Aahana Swrup
‘Vladimir’ presents a concentrated story about a middle-aged professor who finds herself infatuated with a younger co-worker. The timing of her obsession proves to be particularly unfortunate because around the same time, her husband, John, is caught in the middle of a career-ruining sex scandal. The protagonist is initially dead-set on keeping her distance from this scandal, unwilling to answer for her husband’s actions.
Nonetheless, she’s eventually pulled into the eye of the storm when one particular student, Lila, joins the voices of the accusers speaking out against John. This is particularly problematic for the other professor, because, alongside having an affair with John, the young woman was also in the protagonist’s class and blames her for the decline of her academic career. The fact that Lila also falls in the protagonist’s daily commute, as a barista at her preferred cafe, Charlotte Haze, is just the unpleasant cherry on top.
The Real Cafe Behind the Fictionalized Charlotte Haze
‘Vladimir’ is an on-screen adaptation of creator Julia May Jonas’ eponymous 2022 novel. Given its roots in the fictionalized source material, the series also remains grounded within fictitious parameters. Therefore, the cafe Charlotte Haze, frequented by the protagonist, remains a work of fiction created in the service of the narrative. Yet, the on-screen depiction of the cafe sports a natural counterpart in reality. A majority of the filming for the series took place in Mississauga, a Canadian city on Lake Ontario. During filming, the area’s local Kit’s Little Kitchen, located at Halton Hills’ 520 Main Street, Georgetown, was transformed into the Charlotte Haze cafe.
The exterior of the location remains identical, with just the signage swapped out to turn Kit’s Little Kitchen into Charlotte Haze. Consequently, the real-life establishment’s innate aesthetic and visual identity as a small town hotspot contributes to the similar feel of the fictionalized cafe. Additionally, the name of the cafe itself sports an intriguing backstory that plays into the overarching themes of the series. The name of the business is a subtle reference to the literary character Charlotte Haze from the controversial yet culturally relevant novel ‘Lolita.’ In the story, the cafe only remains relevant to the narrative through her connection to Lila.
Lila is an ex-university student who is in conflict with both the protagonist and her husband, John. During her university years, the barista had an affair with the latter while actively being a part of the protagonist’s class, Women in American Fiction. Later, when she was dropped from the institution’s scholarship program with the protagonist as the deciding vote, she grew to resent the other woman, accusing her of sabotaging her academic career. As a result, Lila’s part in the main character’s narrative stems from the complications of her husband’s tendency to have affairs with his students. Thus, the nod to ‘Lolita’ through a narrative thread closely related to John’s character offers a subtle, literary reference.
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