Has anyone else been watching this?
For those that do not know it is a TV adaptation of the Margaret Atwood novel of the same name & it is marvelous.Set in a chilling dystopian future (which seems a little bit too close for comfort), the Handmaids are a class of women kept for reproductive purposes by the ruling class in an era of declining births due to sterility from pollution and sexually transmitted diseases. (lifted straight from Wiki)
It stars Elisabeth Moss (Peggy from Mad Men) & so far Channel 4 have shown 5 of the 10 episodes. For me it is fitting that there is a Mad Men link as it is the most excited about a TV show I have been since that got me hooked.
Although it veers from the books quite a bit, it has been done very very well indeed & has just added some weight to what is already a great story. The acting is also pretty much perfect & its been a good one to watch from the end of my sofa.
Any other fans or critics of it on here? If you have not watched it yet then I would heartily recommend it.
Its great. I love everything from the palette to his much Moss can communicate with her eyes. They could have soft pedalled some of the gore for me (I don’t think I needed that hanging to be quite so vivid – I already know it’s horrific), but overall it’s some if the best TV this year.
I’m a massive, massive Margaret Atwood fan, and this adaptation is bloody amazing. Every detail has realised my version of the book in my head: it’s perfect. Elisabeth Moss is incredible – although as she’s a Scientologist I’m a wee bit sardonically amused by her role in a series about a nutty-bananas religious cult that has weird ideas about women 😉
Count me in, it’s about as perfect an adaptation as one could have wished for. Hope they do Oryx & Crake next.
There was a Maddaddam series in development, but it seems to have been shelved:
http://www.vulture.com/2016/10/darren-aronofsky-maddaddam-not-moving-forward-at-hbo.html
Plan to, saw the film many years ago with the unfortunate Natasha Richardson.
Mrs. T wasn’t keen so it sat unwatched on the PVR but after some positive comments here I gave it a look and an completely hooked. I agree with all the views here. Mrs. T was wrong!
It’s terrific. Quite a trick to make sex scenes the most disturbing element, too. One slight worry is the rumour that a second series is planned. How the hell can they do that, when it’s so closely and faithfully based on a stand-alone, densely-plotted novel?
In the first series they have already added quite a bit more than the original book. I had concerns that it was adding too much/unnecessary and spoiling the sparseness and simplicity of the book. My guess is the second (and more) series will explore the “fighting back” and “reuniting with her family”. Thinking the book is just a start point. lets hope it continues to be as well told and filmed as the first series
Harrowing but worth it… and so beautifully shot. Every frame’s a Vermeer. Fantastic use of sound too.
Yep yep yep. I feel the same way about Better Call Saul – the actual photography of it. It’s just immersively gorgeous to look at.
Yikes, but wasn’t BCS bleak last week……. Excruciating as all his uppences come up at once.
The slow uncoiling of Jimmy’s life is an absolute masterpiece of tension. You see the good man he wants to be, and you see his stupid impulsive choices pushing that good man towards Goodman with every passing episode. Tiny incremental shuffling steps towards moral oblivion.
I have days when I think BCS is better and certainly more profound than Breaking Bad. It seems to have at its centre the question “what does it mean to be a good person?” and art doesn’t get much better than that.
My wife was also a bit ‘meh’ when she saw I’d started recording it, but she gave it a go, and we are both hooked. It is beautifully shot, and I particularly like the slow reveal of Offred’s previous life, and how it is contrasted with her present, especially well done in the latest episode.
The difference between June as a politically / economically hobbled but still totally modern woman, and Offred’s quiet desperate passivity is like a bloody acting master class. Incredible stuff.
Great TV so far, hope it sustains itself for the duration. The feeling of dread is so well maintained, Moss is fantastic, and the look of the thing is wonderful.
I share the concerns about future series though – I’d love one of these series to just tell all in 10 episodes and leave it there.
This thread has also reminded me that I really need to knuckle down and watch Better Call Saul – I know I’ll like it, I just haven’t got around to it yet.
It’s brilliant, but so tense and oppressive that I’m not sure I could say I’m ‘enjoying’ it!