Transatlantic is a seven-episode series created by Anna Wingeramong the writers of Unorthodox and name of a certain guarantee (his too Deutschland89). The story – inspired by the story The Flight Portfolio Of Julie Orringer – rotates around of theEmergency Rescue Committee, the Rescue Committee established in 1940 with the support of Eleanor Roosevelt to shelter artists and other refugees fleeing the Nazis. Mission accomplished: the committee saved 2000 (including the painters Max Ernst and Marc Chagall, the writer André Breton, the essayist Hannah Arendt).
star of Transatlantic And Mary Jayne Gold (Gillian Jacobs), an American heiress who funded and supported the committee in France. Next to her, Varian Fry (Cory Michael Smith), a Harvard journalist who landed in France with a mission to find and rescue artists scattered across Europe.
Transatlantic: the plot
Marseilles, 1940. In Nazi-occupied France, Jews and sought-after artists find refuge trying to escape to Spain or the United States. Here comes Albert Hirschman (Lucas Englader), a Jew who fled Paris with his sister Ursula. Their stories intersect with those of Varian and Mary Jayne, columns of the Rescue Committee, who try to get them to flee to the United States on a ship.
Mary Jayne is a woman of great charmvery rich, used to frequenting luxury hotels, a close friend of the American consul (Corey Stoll). The consul does not look kindly on the mission of his compatriots and considers refugees a threat to US values.
Gillian Jacobs (Mary Jayne Gold), Cory Michael Smith (Varian Fry) and Amit Rahav (Thomas Lovegrove). (Netflix)
The flight to Spain and the unexpected
The French police patrol the coasts and make it impossible for refugees to escape by sea, arresting them. Madeline pays their bail though to get them out of jail. The Committee initiates an overland expedition led by anti-fascist fighter Lisa Fittko (Deleila Piasko). With them, in addition to Ursula Hirschmann, is the writer Walter Benjaminwho sets off with important documents and a precious boule de neige (“it’s what I have left over from the past”).
Albert Hirschmann will join the group, released only later and transferred to the Pyrenees with Madeline aboard the luxurious Mercedes. There is a certain feeling between the two. Arrived at the Spanish border, Hirschmann decides not to join his sister and other refugees: he will come back and help other people escape from France.
Cory Michael Smith (Varian Fry), Amit Rahav (Thomas Lovegrove). (Netflix)
When the Hotel Splendide is raided by the Marseille police, Varian finds a new hiding place for refugees (also in the group Max Ernst); And the house of Thomas Lovegrove (Amit Rahav), Jewish spy for British Intelligence, in love (reciprocated) with Varian. There is a problem: Mary Jayne is disinherited by her father, who would like to see her return to Chicago) and she will have to look for a new way to raise funds for the Committee.
The cast of Transatlantic
The protagonists are two American actors: the charming Gillian Jacobs and the young Cory Michael Smith. The American consul is Corey Stoll, the policeman is Gregory Montel (already seen in Call my agent), French as Ralph Amoussou (Paul Kandjo). Other actors: the Austrian Lucas Englander (Albert Hirschmann), Switzerland Deleila Piasko (anti-fascist Lisa Fittko), Israeli Amit Rahav (Thomas Lovegrove).
A gift for fans of the historical series
For those who love historical series and want to go back in time, Transatlantic it’s perfect – the stories it showcases deserve to be discovered. Even if the story it veers towards melodrama, with poetic license, irony and love plots.
A “bleaching” that invests everything. From the beautiful Marseille to the dialogues, everything is very elegant, ironed and perfumed, as if it were the set of a cover of Voguerather than a film about Nazi Europe.
famous historical figures, like the surrealists Max Ernst and André Breton, or the writer Walter Benjaminthey pass, they say funny and incomprehensible things, but they don’t really let us understand who they were. But the series flows. And maybe then we’ll go googling the illustrious names.
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