Earlier today (March 5) Netflix dropped one of its funniest and steamiest shows yet, with their adaption of Julia May Jonas' novel Vladimir. It follows the protagonist, played by Rachel Weisz, as she comes to terms with many changes in her life.
She's a college professor, and the series kicks off as she deals with the fallout of her husband (and fellow college professor) having numerous accusations made against him by his former students, all while dealing with her feelings for a new married professor (played by Leo Woodall) who has joined the department, and whom she cannot stop having sexual fantasies about.
But amongst all of this, has anyone else noticed the main character doesn't have a name?
Throughout the series, the protagonist is never named by any of her fellow cast members, instead, they call out after her "Hey, wait up" for example when trying to grab her attention.
However, it turns out it's completely intentional we don't ever learn of her name. During the novel the series is based on, we never learn the character's name either, and the novel is told from her first person perspective.
Julia May Jonas, the book's author, and now series showrunner, revealed back in 2022 she never gave the main character a name because she was inspired by gothic literature, which often didn't give names to their narrators and she wanted the reader to feel closer to the character.
"I wanted us to feel inside of her head, I didn’t want us to look at her as if she was an object outside of us,” she told The Maris Review at the time. “I also feel like there’s a tradition in gothic novels of these unnamed narrators, and it does add this sense of urgency. My book is not particularly spooky, but spookiness as a vibe, say.”
While we don't get to ever learn Rachel Weisz's character name during the series, there are some clues that suggests her name begins with an "M." During the international dubbing credits, anytime they refer to Weisz's character they list her as "M."
So maybe she's a Michelle? Or Megan? Or Marjorie? Or Molly?
Netflix, we'd like an answer please.
Vladimir is available on Netflix now.
