'The Wizard of the Kremlin', a successful adaptation of the famous novel
Weekend in theatres starring the new film by Olivier Assayas, based on the book of the same name by Giuliano da Empoli
From the pen of Giuliano da Empoli to that of Emmanuel Carrère and Olivier Assayas: it is undoubtedly one of the most ambitious and important film adaptations of the year, 'The Wizard of the Kremlin', a film based on the famous novel from 2022.
French director Olivier Assayas - the signature of such notable films as "Something in the Air" and "Sils Maria" - has thus chosen a writer of such renown as Carrère to co-write the screenplay for such a delicate product, as the initial plot already shows: in the chaos of post-Soviet Russia in the late 1990s, the story tells of the rise of Vadim Baranov, a young avant-garde director who reinvents himself as a reality show producer. His visionary talent and political intelligence attract the attention of a former KGB agent, Vladimir Putin, destined to become the new head of the Kremlin. Baranov thus becomes a shadow-man, an informal advisor to power. From behind the scenes, he shapes words, images and strategies, becoming the real director of the new Russia, manipulating reality to build a model of politics capable of subjugating an entire nation.
Carrère and Assayas remain very faithful to the source text, a roman à clef in which Baranov's character is inspired by that of Vladislav Surkov and which is Giuliano da Empoli's debut novel.
Among the differences is the greater centrality in the film of the character of Ksenia, an enigmatic figure who represents a kind of possible point of escape for the protagonist of the story.
Solid staging
Although the account of the various stages that led to Putin's rise to power might appear didactic at first glance, as the minutes pass one realises that the film is above all an argument about power in today's world, the use of the media and the history of what has happened in Russia over the last thirty years.
