Most American TV shows portray life as an idyll. However, is everything as good as trying to show? The 2017 television series Big Little Lie shows the ugly, seamy side of such a life. How did viewers meet this “scolding” of traditional television ideals? Let's find out about this by looking at the audience’s reviews of the series “Big Little Lies.”
Big little lies
The script for “Big Little Lies” was written based on the novel of the same name by Liana Moriarty. To attract a large audience, some plot realities were changed, but basically the series corresponded to the original source.
This TV product belongs to the category of mini-series (7 episodes). This format is a bit unusual for the American viewer, who are used to the fact that the season should consist of a minimum of 10-15 episodes. Therefore, after the release of the last episode, many began asking the forums the question: “How many episodes are in the series“ Big Little Lies? ”, Hoping that the 7th was not final.
Interestingly, initially it was supposed to be a television movie, but later there was so much material that HBO settled on a multi-part format
The series "Big Little Lie": actors and characters
This story tells about 5 mothers living in Monterey.
Madeleine Mackenzie (Reese Witherspoon) is the mother of the daughters Abigail and Chloe. Due to teenage pregnancy, she could not get a full education, which she regrets. Therefore, she tries to have her eldest daughter have everything. At the same time, the girl herself does not know what she wants and rushes between her mother and stepmother, often causing scandals between them.
Madeline retained the deepest resentment against her ex-spouse, who soon after the birth of Abigail left and for many years was not interested in the fate of her daughter. This was especially aggravated when he married a second time and became the ideal spouse and father in a new family. The heroine herself also successfully married a caring Ed. She is happy with him, but over the years she feels that their relationship lacks a twinkle.
Bonnie (Zoe Kravitz) is the young wife of Nathan Carlson (ex-wife of Madeleine). She's almost perfect: a sexy, smart and non-conflict vegetarian who has dedicated her life to charity. The couple have a common daughter Sky.
Celeste Wright (Nicole Kidman) is the mother of twins Josh and Max. Despite her age, she is very beautiful and sexy. She was a successful lawyer in the past, but she left the practice due to her marriage.
People envy Celeste. But no one knows that in addition to enchanting sex in the Wright family, no less heated scandals occur and Perry’s husband beats his wife.
Renata Klein (Laura Dern) is the only one of the mothers who pursues her career. At the same time, she is madly in love with her daughter Amabella. Being one of the richest and most successful women in Monterey, she has an influence on public opinion, which she enjoys using.
Jane Chapman (Shailene Woodley) is the only single of the main characters. Jane is kind, but if provoked, she’s ready to fight back. Compared to other mothers, she looks strange and seems to have suffered a psychological trauma. Like other mothers, Jane is madly in love with her son Ziggy, although she fears that he may also have mental problems.
Plot
Having examined the main characters and actors of the series "Big Little Lies", it is worth knowing what he is talking about.
In the very first episode, the viewer is presented with the fact that a murder occurred at a charity ball. However, to find out who is killed, you need to wait for the last episode. While the police are investigating, the residents of the town talk about previous events.
It all starts on September 1, when the children of the main characters go to school for the first time. It turns out that one of the kids was strangling Amabella. The girl claims to be Ziggy, although the boy denies it. Since the boy’s mother is poor and has recently arrived in the city, the “indigenous” mothers are taking up arms against her.
However, Madeline and Celeste take her side and soon a friendship is made between them. Jane tells them that Ziggy's father is a stranger from a bar who brutally raped her. Because of this, a woman fears that her little son might inherit any mental abnormalities. Therefore, she simultaneously believes and does not believe in the innocence of her child. But how a caring mother protects Ziggy from all attacks.
And there are more and more of them, because it turns out that someone constantly beats Amabella at school. The girl does not admit who the offender is. However, most of the public believes that it is Ziggy.
Meanwhile, the Madeleine family has a lot of problems. Abigail decides to move temporarily to live with her stepfather and stepmother. It soon turns out that the girl, fascinated by Bonnie's ideas about charity, exhibited her virginity at one of the online auctions.
At the same time, Madeline begins an affair with the director of the theater, where she works part time. Tormented by guilt, a woman becomes more and more confused.
When the children went to school, Celeste realizes that she wants to return to work. But the husband is against. They constantly quarrel, and then passionately reconcile, but gradually realize that they need the help of a psychiatrist.
After several visits, Perry stops going to him, but Celeste continues, as the doctor guessed that her husband was beating her. The psychiatrist not only listens to her problems, but also gives advice on how to prepare for a probable divorce. At first, Celeste indignantly rejects even the thought of it, gradually she admits the doctor is right.
Renata throughout the series is trying to find out who offends her baby.
The whole city is divided into 2 camps on this issue. Since Renata is influential, the school’s directorate and the parent committee are on her side and are even trying to get Ziggy expelled. In a rage, Jane attacks Renata. Later she comes to ask for forgiveness and the women are reconciled.
In the finale, Jane manages to talk to her son and find out that in fact Amabella is offended by one of Celeste's sons. Ziggy's mother tells her the truth. Realizing that the children see Perry hit her, Celeste intends to get a divorce. At the ball, she reports this to her husband and runs away from him.
Madeline drank too much. She goes into a secluded place near the stairs and there tells Jane about the betrayal. Renata joins them and asks Ziggy's mother forgiveness for everything.
They are joined by Celeste, who is hiding from Perry. However, her husband noticed her and is chasing her. In this case, Wright secretly followed by Bonnie, who saw how Perry was rude to his wife.
Having caught 4 mothers together, Celeste’s husband is trying to persuade her to leave with him. At this moment, Jane recognizes him and admits her friends that it was Perry who raped her.
In desperation, the man rushes to his wife and begins to beat her. Mommies try to stop him. Bonnie runs up to the fighters, pushes Perry from the steps and he breaks his neck.
Subsequently, Celeste takes the blame for the manslaughter, and the remaining women confirm her words. The case is being closed. However, one of the detectives does not believe mommies and continues to follow them.
Issue
This multifaceted project raises many social problems that people in prosperous countries do not like to talk about. First of all, domestic violence. Particular emphasis is placed on the victim’s unwillingness to accept the truth and try to change something, as Celeste does.
Another important issue is prejudice. Although many boys studied in Amabella's class, no one even thought that children from wealthy families, whom Wright seemed to be, would offend her. Instead, everyone immediately began to tyrannize Ziggy as the son of a single mother.
In the final, the main characters, having experienced many problems due to prejudice, successfully use it for their own purposes. So, Celeste takes the blame, because he understands that she, as a victim of domestic violence, is likely to be acquitted, while Bonnie could be given a longer term.
In the series, charity is satirically shown. Inspired by the idea of ​​helping those in need, Abigail suffers from ostentatiousness. She does not help her mother at home, but she feeds the homeless in the dining room. I’m ready to fan the scandal with the sale of virginity for good purposes, but she doesn’t even think that this will distract attention from the very problem for which she collects money.
Who should watch this project
Like most HBO video products, Big Little Lies is full of explicit sex scenes, so it’s not suitable for children and adolescents.
Also, the project is unlikely to appeal to lovers of tearful melodramas about the charms of life in the suburbs, a la “My Beautiful Life” (by the way, the slogan of the series “My Beautiful Lie” serves as a reference to this film).
This project will be interesting to thinking people who are able in their thinking to go beyond stereotypes.
In addition, the project will appeal to fans of psychological detective stories in the style of “How to Avoid Punishment for Murder,” “Girl on the Train,” “Disappeared.”
The series "Big Little Lie": reviews of viewers
How did the audience accept the project? Its rating on popular resources indicates that excellent.
On Rotten Tomatoes 65 reviews about the series “Big Little Lies” were left. Based on their results, the project first scored 7.5, and after a time of 8.05 points out of 10.
On Metacritic, the audience rating was 75 out of 100. It was based on 42 reviews and reviews on The Big Little Lies.
Domestic viewers also liked it. So, 48 reviews about the series “Big Little Lies” were left on “Kinopoisk”. Of these, only 3 are negative and 3 are neutral, so the overall rating is 89.6%.
What I liked and did not like
Many of those who left reviews admit that they began to watch it because of the leading performers (Nicole Kidman and Reese Witherspoon). However, then they were conquered by an interesting plot.
Many also liked the atmosphere of the project. One of the most important details in this, viewers consider beautiful, concise landscapes, as well as thoughtful interiors and costumes.
As for the bed scenes, although they were very naturalistic, most find that the creators of the project managed not to slide into vulgar erotica.
In addition to all of the above, many viewers were hurt by the lively problems of the main characters.
However, not only praise, but also criticize this tape. For example, many did not like Nicole Kidman, or rather, her plastic, which sometimes made her seem like an emotional doll.
Many reviews question Zoe Kravitz's sexuality . So, in the series it was often mentioned that she is beautiful and desirable for many, but perhaps these are features of the American mentality.
Shailene Woodley received a lot of criticism. She was often accused of the fact that the actress launched herself and did not look much younger than Kidman and Witherspoon.
Those who read the original novel were also mostly satisfied with the film adaptation. The main complaints were caused by the plot move with Madeleine's betrayal, which was not in the book.
Will there be a sequel?
No sooner had the final credits died down, as fans began to search on the Internet, how many seasons in the series “Big Little Lies” and whether there would be a sequel.
HBO management said it’s not planned to shoot the second season. However, if Liana Moriarty writes a book about the future fate of mothers, they are happy to film her.
At the same time, they added that they are ready to sell film rights to other countries. So, perhaps, in the near future the Russian series “Big Little Lies” will appear, adapted to Russian realities, as was the case with the project “Crime” or “Escape”.