Vladimir review: Rachel Weisz’s story of obsession is worth obsessing over

Vladimir starts with the main character suggesting she might never be “the cause of a spontaneous erection” again. That’s a little hard to believe given that the lead in question is played by Rachel Weisz, the woman who made an entire generation bisexual with her appearance in The Mummy. But therein lies the charm of this devious drama, a slippery tale of sex and yearning where the only thing you can trust is the sheer horniness of it all.

Weisz’s literature professor M is no longer feeling herself the way she once was. Her writing career has stalled, the students respect her less, and her husband John (John Slattery) is still enjoying the benefits of their open marriage a little too much. M does begin to feel herself though, quite literally, when a new professor named Vladimir (Leo Woodall) arrives on campus with his big blue eyes and constant need to take his shirt off in public, for whatever reason.

These aren’t just PG glimpses of some abs or a delightful peck on the cheek

So far, so chaotic, but there’s also a sex scandal concerning a professor at work which everyone must contend with too: “As luck would have it,” M smiles, “the professor in question happens to be my husband”.

In short, there’s a lot going on with M right now, but she’s too distracted with all her fantasies to care. And these aren’t just PG glimpses of some abs or a delightful peck on the cheek. What starts with her staring intensely at Vladimir’s crotch quickly escalates to a whiff of his pits and then full-blown sex. Not just once either, but multiple times throughout the season. 

At one point, orgasmic cries can even be heard over the credits and then these same moans continue directly into the start of the next episode.

Vladimir embraces yearning and physical desire in ways mostly absent from TV and film these days. That puritanical shift in mainstream content even becomes a plot point of sorts in relation to the texts that M teaches, and how the student body reacts when things get saucy.

What’s perhaps more delicate to navigate, however, is the way M deals with the scandal around her husband sleeping with his students. The show doesn’t quite nail this aspect of the story as well as it does everything else, but the writing still excels when it comes to challenging what a woman’s role is expected to be in such circumstances.

Just as she does in her novel of the same name, Vladimir showrunner Julia May Jonas is careful to get into that nitty-gritty without full-blown endorsement of the murky morality at play. Such care also goes into the language used, especially in the stream of quotable lines that M dictates to us in an endless flow of bemusement, questioning and misdirection.  

Weisz ensures that she’s never less than mesmerising throughout

“I have always felt the origin of anger in my vagina”, is a particular zinger, and there are so many more where that came from. 

This show is literary in every sense of the word, not only when it comes to M’s occupation, but also in how the writing utilises these fourth wall breaks to give us vivid glimpses into the protagonist’s psyche. Such one-sided exchanges are charming and disarming in equal measure, as if M is confiding in us and us alone. Yet what might be most telling are the things she doesn’t say, and how she convinces herself – through us – that everything is going to be okay.

Weisz, who also executive-produces the series, is instrumental in this. 

Even when M is unlikeable, even when you know she’s only telling us what she wants us to believe, Weisz ensures that she’s never less than mesmerising throughout. There’s a mischievous energy that underlies her charm offensive, combined with a thread of selfishness that’s born of insecurities around ageing. M is incredibly relatable in that sense, just as she is when she lusts after Vladimir.

It would have been easy for Woodall to phone it in as the object of M’s obsession, but he brings his own unique charms to the role as well, channeling earlier roles in One Day and The White Lotus with a newfound maturity that makes him worthy of sharing the screen (and a whole lot more) with Weisz. 

The supporting cast excel too, especially Jessica Henwick as Vladimir’s unfortunate wife, Cynthia. In fact, everyone is so good that you can’t help but crave a second season with them all. Fortunately, Vladimir has quite rightly been billed as a limited, one-off series. As contagious as M’s crush might be, the story that’s told here is a complete one, and efforts to drag that out would undermine just how cutting and precise this series is. 

The supporting cast excel too

Still, I’m sure viewers who watch through to the end will be left daydreaming of these characters for quite some time to come, even if their fantasies end up a little less explicit than the ones M has enjoyed so thoroughly until now.

Should you watch Vladimir?

With Bridgerton gone for another year, it’s time to delve into this short, snappy and very saucy drama that proves you’re never too old for love, sex, and everything in between. Bonus points for making full use of Weisz’s raw star power and almost unbearable levels of hotness.