Jude Law as Putin in Olivier Assayas' 'The Wizard of the Kremlin' at Venice 82

Olivier Assayas presents 'The Wizard of the Kremlin' (Il mago del Cremlino) in competition at the 82nd Venice International Film Festival. The film is an adaptation of Giuliano da Empoli's international bestseller, offering a fictionalized account of Russian power through the confessions of Vadim Baranov, an alter ego of Vladislav Surkov, played by Paul Dano. Jude Law portrays Vladimir Putin as a convincing 'emperor of evil.' The narrative traces Putin's rise from KGB bureaucrat to new tsar, covering events like the Chechen war, the Kursk submarine disaster, the Orange Revolution in Ukraine, and the weaponization of social media. It also includes the character of Evgenij Prigozhin, known as 'Putin's chef.' Assayas, former Cahiers du Cinéma critic, frames the film as an exploration of power as permanent performance, where reality TV logic and kitsch become the grammar of politics. The film critiques how contemporary power relies on entertainment rather than brute force or ideology, with Baranov as a failed artist who finds his ultimate stage in political manipulation.