"M isn't just a professor, after all; she's a writer, a parent, and a woman - roles that come with a certain degree of influence. In "Vladimir," as much as M is saddened and frustrated by her fading relevancy as a professor, writer, and parent, she fixates on her waning relevancy as a wanted woman. If, as a person over 50, she can't be convincing anymore, she's damn sure going to be coveted."
"While readers of Julia May Jonas' exhilarating 2023 novel could imagine anyone they wanted as their unreliable narrator, seeing a movie star with such palpable magnetism pretend she's "lost the ability to captivate" is jarring. That she says this line directly to camera proves extra grating, in part because you're staring directly into Weisz's radiant chestnut eyes when she claims to be withering into some sort of sexless crone."
"Where Phoebe Waller-Bridge's masterpiece is provocative, nuanced, and sincere, "Vladimir" is forced, repetitive, and farcical."
In the film "Vladimir," Rachel Weisz plays M, an unnamed protagonist who is a professor, writer, and parent grappling with her waning relevance across multiple roles. While she experiences frustration about her fading influence as an academic and author, her primary fixation centers on her diminished desirability as a woman over 50. M believes that if she cannot captivate others through her intellect and work, she will ensure she is coveted sexually. The film's adaptation of Julia May Jonas's 2023 novel struggles with its transition from page to screen, particularly in its use of fourth-wall breaking and its portrayal of M's claims about losing her ability to captivate, which feels incongruous given Weisz's evident magnetism and presence.
Read at IndieWire
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