And as they await the next phase of their exodus from peril, the idiosyncratic group of refugees finds the time to sing, dance, and fall in love in the sun-dappled oasis of the Villa Air-Bel. While these are grim times, we’re not following grim people: These are idealists, hoping (perhaps naively) to preserve what they feel is most important-the art and philosophy that elevates a society beyond mere survival. This ramshackle mansion eventually becomes the ERC’s waystation for its rogue’s gallery of big thinkers.Īnd to its credit, this surprising sunniness brings a welcome sense of relief to much of the show’s darker material. When it’s not playing with surrealism and German Expressionism in its fragmented, black-and-white intros and credit sequences, father-son cinematographers Wolfgang and Sebastian Thaler soaks 1940 Marseille in crisp, saturated colors, bouncing off Justine Seymour’s vivid costumes and the ornate decoration of the Villa Air-Bel. While that sounds like a recipe for melancholic intrigue, “Transatlantic” has a bittersweet, Classic Hollywood vibe, evoking the historical romance of “ Casablanca” in its lush, vibrant presentation. Meanwhile, the stalwart founders of the ERC-including former journalist Varian Fry ( Cory Michael Smith) and principled Chicago heiress Mary Jayne Gold ( Gillian Jacobs)-burn up what political and financial capital they have left to get luminaries like Hannah Arendt, Walter Benjamin, and Walter Mehring out of the country before the Nazis can find them. The US is still clinging to a thin veneer of neutrality, turning away refugees by the hundreds while plugging their ears and humming while the Third Reich spreads throughout Vichy, France. In Winger’s (and co-creator Daniel Handler’s) case, the heroes highlighted are the ad-hoc Emergency Rescue Committee founders, who successfully smuggled 2,000 of Europe’s foremost artists, thinkers, and academics to safety in America through the risky ports of Marseille in 1940.
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