Echoes of Woody Allen and Philip Roth, in the saga set between the 50s and 60s
Since 2017, when it debuted with an acclaimed pilot, this series, written with absolute humor by the Palladino family and of which the fourth and penultimate season in 8 episodes is now available on Amazon Prime, has made a hard core of fans, mostly female. but not only and has become a symbol and a prototype of New York psychosomatology, like the girls of “Sex and the city” and like the shining American cinema of the 50s. And to this day Maisel with friends and relatives and the mood of New York that surrounds her, is the character that most resembles the Yiddish comedy, even vintage, and in fact from every scene memories, witty intermittences of the heart with Woody Allen “Danny Rose” or the literature of Philip Roth not to mention the Singers and their masterpieces or the “Showdown” Saul Bellow’s first masterpiece released in the USA in 1956 when, to the rhythm of “I belong to you” Mrs. Maisel began her adventure as a comedian.
Especially thanks to the superfine dialoguesi by Amy Sherman-Palladino, often also a director, and her inventive happiness in finding prototypes that we recognize in an infinite range of Jewish culture. After all, for the types and situations, fears and connected neuroses, it resembles a kind of “Shitsel” in a brilliant version, to which is added the absolute love for the world of entertainment, even the trashy one, in particular for stand-ups. comedian, the real protagonists of this odyssey around Broadway and surroundings in the 50s. But this season – we are working on the fifth and last – our mrs. Maisel, after two arrests and a divorce, short of writings, has to be satisfied, with a scandal in the family and on the Upper West side, to present in a club at the limits of legality a show of e striptease tease that in reality attracts a lot of American times in the 30s of burlesque, review to believe the story of Gipsy Rose Lee from which a good film was made with Natalie Wood and the glorious Maisel of the times Rosalind Russell, for all Aunt Mamie. Not only is the professional journey of the comic lady who has a double life fun, with memorable encounters (see Lenny Bruce who appears at the end of the first episode of the first series, and is the icon of the fight against respectability), but it is very rhythmic and cohesive the alternating course of events, between the two Yiddish families (hers and that of the ex-husband with his new Chinese partner), the religious pathologies (episode of the host taken by mistake is from an anthology), the mockery towards the kosher kitchen neurosis with the rabbi who became hysterical about the presence of shrimps at the wedding party of our “marvelous” or let’s say fantastic lady.
The dynamics of the show that must go on they are witty and the figure of his agent (Alex Bornstein magnificent actress) psychosomatically male, causes non-racist fun and always stands out the figure of Lenny (remember the ’74 Bob Fosse film with Dustin Hoffmann?) in the famous final concert on February 3rd of 61 at Carnegie Hall before the sad end of an overdose at the age of 40 in 1966. There is, in this series written entirely according to the humorous principles of “understatement”, the still smiling America of the years between 50 and 60 , with Elvis, the cold war, Belafonte, the Hays code that separates the beds and lips at the cinema, the Magic moments of Perry Como which was also a hit in Italy, while the cinemas with big brands announce “Ben Hur” and “Colpo big “(Ocean eleven 11). Irresistible is the scene in which the never too award-winning Rachel Brosnahan presents a charity tea to raise funds for Kennedy’s election, while in the evening she shares the maxi dressing room with the folk girls who do striptease, while it is all to enjoy the twist of the hypnotized mom ruining the family balance. The references are excellent and abundant, even refined, you need to have the memory and culture of American cinema since we mention Francis Farmer (actress interned in an asylum for political reasons, in the biopic of 82 fu Jessica Lange), Jessica Tandy, the first Blanche of Tennessee Williams’ “Tram”, as well as cultured references to Joyce and Proust, the Frick collection and Martha Graham, while admiring a rare historical television artifact when Hitchcock appears presenting his new “Psycho”.
Quarrel in pure Jewish style, with marriage and post break-ins, mothers from Oedipus award, the series entertains in an intelligent way and reminds us of the nightmares of such an organized society that wants to arrange marriages for its children. And in the meantime you hear a song from “Kiss me Kate” by Cole Porter, a joke about “Dark beyond the hedge” (first best seller against racism) is quoted and so are memories and nostalgia, in short, there is in this magmatic mix a hidden treasure, the America of those wonderful years before the decade of excellent corpses, which began with the assassination of Kennedy and the death of Marilyn. Ms. Maisel is fantastic and resists, to the delight of an audience that has not forgotten the taste for joke and sophisticated comedy, all with a fierce cast (to remember the ex-husband who is also an aspiring comedian, that is Michael Zegen) that never wastes any of the careful packaging. Every single dialogue falls apart, beyond some mannerism and complacency that are also part of a game of great entertainment. Not to mention the matching “French” dresses and coats, they all look like my fair ladies
May 25, 2022 (change May 25, 2022 | 12:05)
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