Rachel Weisz plays an English professor who dominates her young colleague in Netflix's series "Vladimir" (Patreon)

In the past few years, Hollywood has produced quite a few older woman and younger man relationship movies and series—and it doesn’t look like they’re stopping anytime soon. The latest? Rachel Weisz is set to star in Netflix’s limited series adaptation of Julia May Jonas’ VLADIMIR.

The series is based on the novel, and actor Leo Woodall has been cast as the young professor opposite Weisz. The story promises a darkly humorous exploration of desire, moral complexity, and that blurry line between fantasy and reality.

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Plot:

The story follows a unnamed narrator who is a English professor at a small liberal arts college in upstate New York. Her husband, John, is the charismatic chair of the department. Their academic reputation is rock solid—until John is accused of inappropriate relationships with multiple former students over the years. While John sees them as consensual, the relationships clearly cross ethical lines, especially under today’s campus standards.

John is put on leave pending an investigation. The narrator publicly stands by him—but deep down, she’s torn between loyalty, shame, and a weird kind of pride that her husband still attracts younger women. Their marriage is “open,” technically—but it’s emotionally dead.

Enter Vladimir Vladinski: a younger, hot new professor who’s also a rising literary star, married to another professor named Cynthia. The narrator becomes obsessed with Vladimir—not just sexually, but in a messy mix of fantasy, jealousy, projection, and lust. She stalks him online, watches him at faculty events, and fantasizes about him constantly.

The twist? She’s not really interested in him as a person. She fetishizes him—he represents youth, vitality, and raw desire. Her obsession is primal, one-sided, and more about what he symbolizes than who he is.

And then it gets dark.

In the most shocking part of the story, she lures Vladimir to her remote lakeside cabin under the excuse of discussing writing and mentorship. Once there, she drugs him and handcuffs him to a chair—basically holding him captive.

She doesn’t physically assault him, but the whole situation is deeply uncomfortable and surreal. She treats it like a psychological experiment—forcing him to listen to her, to witness her unraveling, and to finally see her as a powerful woman in a world that’s trying to erase her.

Eventually, Vladimir escapes. The scandal causes waves, but the fallout remains kind of ambiguous. She isn’t formally punished (at least not yet), and the book ends with a chilling sense of ironic detachment.

🔞 About the Sex and Nudity:

Yes, there’s sex and nudity in the novel—most of it exists in the narrator’s mind, through her intense and sometimes disturbing fantasies about Vladimir.

She imagines:

Dominating Vladimir—or being dominated by him.

Him naked, tied up, or in totally submissive positions.

Herself seducing or undressing him at faculty events or in her office.

Fantasies where someone might catch her in the act—being watched adds to the thrill.

In one fantasy, she imagines Vladimir restrained, either tied to a chair or lying naked on her bed, completely at her mercy.

In another, she straddles him while still clothed, slowly revealing herself, while he stays passive and eager to please. She fantasizes about lecturing him about power and pleasure while he just listens, completely under her control. It's not romantic—it’s a reclamation of control and aging sexuality.

Her inner monologue during these fantasies is intense. She thinks of herself as teaching him about “real” pleasure, like she’s reclaiming both her body and her relevance.

And then there’s the cabin scene—the peak of the story’s psychological intensity. She partially undresses in front of him while he’s still handcuffed. She removes her top and bra, exposing herself from the waist up, and stands right in front of him, facing him directly. She doesn’t get fully naked, but this moment is very deliberate—it’s her way of forcing him to see her as a sexual being on her own terms.

There’s no sex in that scene—no touching or forced physical contact—but the tension is dripping with twisted intimacy.

She also has moments where she watches herself nude in the mirror, or masturbates while fantasizing about Vladimir. These scenes are written with brutal honesty, showing her hunger, her vulnerability, and her unraveling.

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The Netflix series is currently in pre-production. Now we just have to wait and see if Netflix goes all the way and includes these scenes. Rachel Weisz is 55—and honestly, it would be hot to see her go fully bold again at this age. Let’s hope the show keeps that raw, NSFW energy intact.