Maximilien

Quite refreshing to enjoy the history of Europe in an actual eurpean production. Good cast and plot. The acting is good and the music is exhilarating.

Costumes are fantastic. Locations are fantastic. Casting is fantastic. Acting is really good. Period is wonderful, too few movies from the rennaisance. That it is made of German history is super good. Story is good. The people in history depicted are super interesting. And political correctness is kept in check.

However. Storytelling is extremely inefficient. Every scene is more than twice as long as it needs to be. This series can take 10 minutes to just say person x sent a letter to person y. I am watching this on my computer so I can fix it by setting speed to x 2. But its really a shame since everything else with this miniseries is so good.

First, let's get a few things out of the way. Max is an historical drama/thriller filmed in German and French, among other languages. If you are uncomfortable with subtitles, this may not be for you - but I recommend getting comfortable. For Americans, the cast will be unknown to you, unless you are a cinephile you might be familiar with Jean-Hughes Anglande and Silvia Testud. Lastly, at least in my experience Germany has not had a strong track record in the motion picture arts, although I've seen some things recently on big on small screen that were quite good.

I ran across this series some time ago on Starz, which I subscribed to temporarily on occasion to catch up on a few things. Their Philippa Gregory series have been ok, although fall a bit on the soapy side. Needless to say, I'm a lover of history and historical fiction, so this caught my eye. Still, I was hesitant as it was a German production rather than say Brit or French, so I did not come back to it for a couple of years.

But I started watching the first episode the other night, and man, this one is very very good. Excellent production values, acting, dialogue, with strong dedication to the source history it is based on. No soap involved - down and dirty drama and action.. What is really striking, ,though obviously a very minor point when talking about lesser known historical figures from 500 years ago, was how closely the actors resembled their counterparts.

If you like history at all or period pieces, heck, if you like Game of Thrones, I encourage you to watch this series. Max does a really great job making you feel the history here, the grittiness of the time, with some surprisingly sharp details to the keen eye....such as homage to peripheral figures and events to this particular arena like Mathias Corvinus and the Black Army of Hungary.

I have a particular interest in this period of history, but most of my background was Brit and French focused from college, but I studied up later on the rest of Europe at the time. I'd guess for most Americans there's little knowledge of these events and characters, maybe none at all. The two young main characters here, Max of Austria and especially Mary of Burgundy, would probably seem quite minor or insignificant to history. However, there are a couple of important things to consider when going into this. The death of Charles the Bold of Burgundy (Mary's Father) - basically the first scene of Max - is one of the most pivotal events in European history that most aren't even familiar with. It was the catalyst for the fall of and soon disappearance of a major European power for all time, and the rise of one of the most powerful dynasties in European history, whose progenitors happen to be Mary and Max. I think it is important to know that, if not learned in the area, and do a little research, before going into it to understand the weight of the events and characters portrayed here. This is heavy stuff and it is well done and very exciting, and at times quite moving.

If this production was filmed in English, it would have been an internationally acclaimed historical drama. Yet, if it was filmed in English, it would have lost its charm and intensity.

As someone fluent in French and German, it is an odd sensation to listen to characters speaking to each other in different languages. It is an interesting artistic choice which does reflect the multilingual aspect of European courts in this period.

The gritty: it is sumptuous, tense, murderous, and sexy. There are no elves or dwarves or fictional kingdoms: this is real life and history, naked and brutal.

If you are a cinephile, you should watch this.

Showtime/Starz has given viewers a refreshing and rewarding experience in running the limited series "Maximilian" this spring, an insightful exploration of Fifteenth Century European history, concentrating on France, Germany, Austria and Hungary. At the time, France consisted of somewhat independent provinces, as did Germany, the greatest part of Germany known as the Holy Roman Empire. This focus on these countries is a refreshing change from the usual concentration on British history that we're offered in the category of Old World history.

Also refreshing is the absence of melodramatic soap histrionics characteristic in Hollywood productions. If the actors in "Maximilian" at times seemed too stone-faced, the viewer must take into account the behavior standards of royals and aristocrats both in previous centuries and in modern times. This does not mean there is a lack of emotional expression, just that it is more tempered, allowing for some highly charged scenes at pivot points along the way.

There is some frankly presented nudity and the brutality of the times, but not overly graphic. One nude scene in particular provides one of the most hilarious scenes in the world of cinema.

It was particularly rewarding to see this series in German and French with subtitles, much to be preferred over dubbing. Amazingly, the characters all communicated with one another across language barriers, each speaking in his/her native language, while seeming to understand one another perfectly.

I highly recommend "Maximilian." Don't pass this one up.