Transatlantic (Netflix series, 2023)
Transatlantic is a fairly lighthearted and even romantic new drama series about a rescue group who helped 2000 people, including artists like Hannah Arendt and Marc Chagall, escape from occupied France during the Second World War.
Transatlantic was created by Daniel Hendler and Anna Winger, who also created the Netflix-hit Unorthodox.
This new series tells the tale of American journalist Varian Fry (Cory Michael Smith), who arrived in Marseille from Berlin in 1940 and found a collaborator in Mary Jayne Gold (Gillian Jacobs), the daughter of a wealthy American businessman. Together they formed the Emergency Rescue Command.
With him Fry had a list of artists and writers whose lives were in danger under German occupation. Among them legendary names like Hannah Arendt, Marcel Duchamp, Max Ernst and Marc Chagall. Most of who actually pop up at some point in the series.
The plan: get them to Spain and Portugal first, and then on to the United States.
Fry and Gold use the money they have to procure false documents, amass emergency funds, and arrange for passage to safe havens.
And there is the third mainstay: Albert Hirschman (Lucas Englander), who wants to flee the country with his wife, but who can’t seem to get on a boat. And then his wife gets on a bus, but he decided he wants to help others escape. And perhaps he also wants to get involved romantically with other women. So Albert goes back to the Splendide Hotel that serves as the base camp for their operations.
The most famous actor in the cast is Corey Stoll, known for his work in House of Cards and the Ant-Man movies. He has a supporting turn as the American consul, who thinks that appeasing the French Vichy-government is more important than helping refugees.
Transatlantic is based on the novel The Flight Portfolio by Julie Orringer and is described by its creators as ‘fiction inspired by real people and real events.’
The series clearly aims to please a mainstream audience. It doesn’t go very deep, but Transatlantic has the look and feel of a classy production. It places a lot of importance on a good looking production design and set decorations. And the south of France looks beautiful too.
So Transatlantic doesn’t go for hyper realism, like a lot of modern war productions. It is presented more in a classic adventure style, a story about heroes and villains, in which courageous men and women not only find joy in clandestine love affairs but also risk their lives trying to achieve the (nearly) impossible.
It is a painting done in broad strokes, with characters that sometime border on the caricatural. But the actors are fine and, based on the first couple of episode, I would say there is some binge-worthy enjoyment to be had in watching these characters try and do the right thing - even if it means risking their own lives.