DRAMA
THE ROMANOFFS Amazon Prime
From Matthew Weiner, the creator of hit series Mad Men, comes this sumptuous and dramatic anthology.
Each episode is a standalone feature, a story of people who claim to be descendants of the Russian royal family, who were executed in 1918.
In the first episode, Greg Moffat (Aaron Eckhart) is an American who helps run a small hotel in Paris. He and his girlfriend Sophie are desperately hoping and waiting for Greg’s horrible aunt Anushka (Marthe Keller) to die so that Greg will inherit her fabulous, history-filled apartment.
Anushka wants to keep the place in the family, but is also seeking assurance that the family bloodline won’t die out. And it doesn’t appear that Sophie has any intention of having kids.
Elsewhere, there are unsettling scenes as Anushka is racist towards her new housekeeper Hajar, a Muslim woman – she calls her a terrorist.
This is a lavish family saga that makes some political points, with plenty of drama too.