Obsession Review: Netflix Steamy Hot Series That Has Some Trilling Movements
Cast: Richard Armitage, Charlie Murphy, Indira Varma, Rish Shah, Pippa Bennett-Warner, Sonera Angel, Anil Goutam, Marion Bailey
Directors: Glenn Leyburn, Lisa Barros D’Sa
Streaming Platform: Netflix
Filmyhyhpe.com Ratings: 2.5/5 (two and a half stars) [yasr_overall_rating size=”large”]
The review of Obsession, the miniseries on Netflix that mixes thriller and erotic story, with Richard Armitage and Charlie Murphy. There are many TV series that have tried to tell about betrayal, from titles that have explored the most erotic aspect of adulterous life, such as Sex/Life, to those that, instead, wanted to push the viewer to a very profound reflection about what it entails to sexually, psychologically, romantically cheat on someone other than yourself such as Fidelity or The Affair. And after the success of these series, Netflix has decided to focus again on this kind of story between the erotic and the romantic, a story that somehow unites everyone, from the victims of betrayal to the perpetrators, from those who have never experienced this emotional experience for those who, on the other hand, have been overwhelmed by it and have done so with a new TV series, Ossessione. Directed by Glenn Leyburn and Lisa Barros D’Sa, Obsession is a story in four episodes that dissects the idea of betrayal, questions this concept, criticizes it, defends it, contradicts it, and, above all, shows its consequences in life own and others.
A British miniseries arrives on Netflix that hopes to appeal to lovers of psychological thrillers and erotic tales. Obsession is the adaptation of the novel Damage by Josephine Hart, already transported in the nineties in a film with Jeremy Irons and Juliette Binoche. The story is once again quite faithful to the original work, but unlike its predecessor, it fails to engage the viewer, who drags on, one episode after another, up to an ending that is not as incisive as a story of this type would need. As we will see in this review of Obsession, the miniseries directed by Glenn Leyburn and Lisa Barros D’Sa does not have the same power as either the original material or the previous adaptation: the protagonists are flat and not very detailed, the pace is not very suitable for a story like this, which should capture us and keep us glued to the screen, and the script falters precisely in the moments that should be more intense and exciting. Too bad, because the ideas for making a good thriller were all there.
Obsession Review: The Story Plot
Obsession is the new Netflix series with a plot inspired by the novel by Josephine Hart, Damage, that anyone who has ever cheated on or only thought about cheating on their partner should watch. It almost acts as an alarm bell, as a jolt, as a bucket of cold water in the face. This series, which boasts a photograph with olive tones that corrodes the image as it corrodes the heart of the beholder, gets inside, under the skin, creeps into the cracks of a mind and a heart already damaged by past loves and pains and involves the public that finds in the “sick” story of Anna and William almost a comfort, the confirmation that, in the world, one is not the only “broken” inside.
William Farrow (Richard Armitage) is a highly esteemed surgeon, capable of performing real magic in the operating room. He has been happily married for many years to Ingrid (Indira Varma) and has two children with her. Life for him will change radically when the eldest, Jay (Rish Shah), announces to the family that he has fallen in love with him: the lucky one is Anna Barton (Charlie Murphy), an extremely beautiful and fascinating woman, older than him. However, Anna hides dark secrets related to her past and William cannot immediately avoid feeling attracted by her being so indecipherable and mysterious. The attraction is such that a forbidden passion soon breaks out between the two, made up of clandestine encounters and rules to which she submits. A difficult relationship to maintain, especially when his Obsession with his son’s girlfriend becomes all-encompassing, and the respected father of the family is completely sucked into the need to spend as much time as possible with Anna. A balance, the one that has been created between the two lovers, which therefore cannot last…
Obsession Review and Analysis
As we anticipated at the beginning, Ossessione fails, in the four episodes of which it is composed, to find the right rhythm to truly involve the viewer. Perhaps the choice to adapt this story into a mini-series rather than a film (as was done in 1992) is rather counterproductive in this case, the narration tends in fact to get lost in unnecessary extensions, scenes of passion that at times border on the grotesque and they act more as fillers than as elements of thickness for the unfolding of the plot. The ending is then rather anticlimactic, after a twist that shuffles the cards on the table right at the beginning of the fourth episode, we find ourselves with another half hour –too much! – in which the main characters slowly conclude their narrative arc.
It is intended, in the case of stories like this, that the viewer is led not to empathize with the protagonists, who make decidedly unshareable choices. The problem with Obsession, however, is that both William and Anna are only superficially outlined overall, and for this reason, it is particularly difficult to get carried away by the story: both are annoyingly despicable characters, but it is also unclear what causes the deep attraction that League. In a matter of minutes and after two hurriedly exchanged words, he finds himself screwing up his entire existence to establish an extramarital affair with his son’s girlfriend. The writing fails to make the story unfolding on the screen believable enough, so much so that many of the reactions of the characters end up appearing out of place. An example of the last meeting between William and Anna: in which, after all, that has happened – and of which they were both the cause – he urges her to leave the past behind, because “what’s done is done”.
Neither Richard Armitage nor Charlie Murphy can fix such a deficient script, especially Anna’s interpreter tries to do the best of her but is still not able to give depth to the character. Telling the story of a clandestine love that becomes an Obsession to the point of upsetting the lives of those who experience it firsthand, and those who suffer its shock waves, this Netflix title prompts us to reflect on how blurred the line between right and wrong, between love and death, between imagination and reality. With a story that unfolds between descriptive pauses and moments of action, Ossessione has a plot that overwhelms, ranging from slowdowns and accelerations, sometimes a little too sudden, which presents characters functional to the story whom all revolve around the two great protagonists of the series, Anna, a girl with a mysterious past behind which all men seem to fall in love at first sight and William is a highly respected surgeon with a split personality. If at the beginning it is not very convincing, Ossessione is one of those series that needs to settle a little in the viewer’s mind to express its full potential and the more one goes on in its vision the more it drags into the story makes it accomplices, almost obsessed from what you are seeing.
Obsession Review: The Last Words
Intense, profound, erotic, and not to be seen lightly, Obsession is the new Netflix series not to be missed, it is the title to choose for one of those days when you feel like looking inside yourself, examining your conscience and even suffering a bit. And after this inner suffering, there can only be a rebirth. Obsession fails to engage the viewer like the novel it’s based on or like the first adaptation. A flat series without narrative flashes.
