Winter Palace

Thanks to a recent law (Lex Netflix), this series has been produced in collaboration with Swiss production companies and the new 4% tax revenue from Netflix. First of its kind, this production is opening the way for future Swiss series and films. Although half-way through the first episode, I find a few things puzzling...

Production is nice, images lovely, acting decent and I appreciate the mix of French and English (Swiss accents are very clean though), what would be expected from a Netflix prod. Nothing special about the scenario either, a classic against-all-odds success story, except here the hero is loaded, of course it's Switzerland...

So, the subject...

Sponsored by luxury watches and sparkling wine (as well as cheese fondue on national TV lol), a few minutes in and it's obvious that this isn't about promoting Swiss culture or history, but rather a not so subtle way to sell dreams of luxury and be a booby-tourist-trap. It's unfortunate to cover the subject of early mass-tourism through the prism of luxury, when there are so many other stories and aspects to explore about Swiss hospitality and the reality of early 1900s mountain life.

Tourism and luxury are important local industries indeed, but is that really what Switzerland as a nation needs to put forward right now to the world?

Anyway, I don't want to spoil anything, but I can't help but find disappointment for this series. Nothing bad to say about it really, but not much to write home about, I guess I was expecting something a little refreshing... Hopefully some of Lex Netflix revenues will find their ways to more down to earth projects!

I live in a Swiss tourist resort, I love period drama, I have family connections to the history of tourism. In short, I was looking forward to this. However I hardly managed to watch the first couple of minutes. Whoever made this obviously has no idea what they're talking about. For starters, winter tourism was invented long before 1899. Five minutes on Wikipedia would have told them that. And then, in the first scene, this couple is driving through the snowy landscape on a sled, without scarves or woolly hats or anything ... wtf? Dear friends in the warmer parts of the world, let me tell you, their teeth should have been chattering, their noses and eyes should have been dripping, their ears should have fallen off. Even nowadays, with climate change, this would have been an awful experience, but go back to 1899 and it would have been minus 10 C or colder ... So, very sorry, but I couldn't go on. Try again, Netflix.

Switzerland has produced much better in the past. I was really looking forward to this show. The production was actually very good, and the actors were impressive too. But the more episodes I saw, the more I didn't like it. I felt there were a lot of gaps and inconsistencies and missings for any logic. Some scenes were missing or ended, leaving questions and others were unnecessarily drawn out. I don't really know what the bottom line was supposed to be. The story wasn't heartwarming, it left me more and more cold. The longer it went on, the more it reminded me of a puppet show. All in all, a big disappointment.

I had the pleasure of watching this in France whilst on a work trip, as it isn't released on Netflix UK for some reason. I really enjoyed it and binge watched over a couple of days. It's beautiful and the acting is great. Theres'a something for everyone and the scenery is stunning (as you would expect from Switzerland). There's intrigue, drama and some funny moments scattered in between. Don't know why people are complaining about the historical accuracies as it's like questioning Bridgerton's historical accuracy. Nowhere does it claim to be a true story. It's a fun piece of fiction and a nice change to the usual Netflix American series. Don't listen to the haters, watch it and enjoy.

Swiss productions were becoming better, but this is a setback.

Too many procedural, chronological and technical errors run through the production. And it's new that ordinary mountain villagers walk around in nice dresses and easily learn new professions in 1899. The general idea of the story is good, though. Especially the original English, French and German dialogues would have made a real difference to others productions. The special effects of skiing down a mountain remembered of 1960ies productions. If you don't care about a story which often does not add up and adds diversity to an 1899 time, watch it. At least the dialogue are clearly understandable.