Tuesday 30 November 2021

Close to Me (2021 Michael Samuels)

Connie Nielsen is lying at the foot of a posh staircase (why are the houses in these things always really chic?) with her head smashed in. "Well, you're alive," we hear in voiceover. "What does a girl have to do to get some help round here?" And that slightly humorous note sets a nice tone which gives it a point of difference from the off, as she has lost a year's worth of memory, and husband Chris Ecclestone seems to be covering up a number of things. Complicated by flashbacks to childhood in Denmark and father's dementia.

Though as these things progress you do find yourself asking, Is this credible? Is this entertaining? Is it going to turn out to be a load of nonsense? What's going on? Do I care? Who am I? The ending was just rubbish e.g. how did her friend suddenly rock up outside the house? How come the kids vanished and then were there again? I was left with a feeling of bored depression.

With Susan Lynch, Ellie Haddington, Tom Taylor, Rosy McEwen, Tom Blood as the vilest boyfriend on screen (why would the daughter or mother find him remotely attractive?), Henning Jensen.

Angela Pell adapted Amanda Reynolds' novel. Michael Samuels does a stylish job of it.

The last episode holds three minor compensations: a shadow pattern -

- a cute van -

"Oh, what a lovely van!"

- and a final shot into the sun:




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