Directed by Oliver Assayas | Written by Assayas and Emmanuel Carrère, based on the novel by Giuliano Da Empoli | 137 min | ▲▲▲ | On VOD
An earlier version of this review appeared on FITI during the coverage of #TIFF2025
I’m a fan of Assayas, especially his pictures with Kristen Stewart (The Clouds of Sils Maria and Personal Shopper). The French filmmaker introduced The Wizard Of The Kremlin at TIFF by saying his movies are usually pretty simple, but this one is complex.
He’s not wrong — this adapts the geopolitical novel by Giuliano Da Empoli detailing the rise of Vladimir Putin. It starts way back at the fall of the Soviet Union, profiling the life of a fixer, the political animal Vadim Baranov, played by Paul Dano. He’s a composite of a number of different people who survived the changing regime — the actor holds the film together with his unruffled charisma.
We meet him in the 1990s Moscow art scene as a theatre director, moving into TV, and eventually into politics while we witness the rise of the oligarchs — including Dmitri Sidorov played by Netflix’s Sandman, Tom Sturridge — before Vladimir Putin (an entirely credible Jude Law) steps in and assumes a new level of control.
The machinations are entertaining, and the cast is solid, but the story spread over so many years is almost painfully episodic and may have really benefited from having been a six-episode miniseries, as well as, frankly, a little more sex and violence. The script is fascinating, cerebral, and almost scuppered by too much exposition. Poor Alicia Vikander gets the flashiest role and then remains offscreen for big chunks of time as Baranov’s on-again-off-again love and biggest critic.
There’s the suggestion the movie is about Baranov’s struggle to save his soul while bathing in power, but really you get the sense he’s enjoying his work far too much for any genuine anxiety. The film ends in a way you might predict, but without nearly enough context.
The Wizard of the Kremlin earns a cautious recommendation simply because it’s never boring. It also features the always excellent Jeffrey Wright in a supporting role.
