A Little Life with James Norton

[Frodofeeling]

I went to see the cinema screening of the stage play.

I knew it would be hard hitting and explored some challenging themes and it was rated 18, but OMG I've never seen such a graphic film, let alone stage performance. I can't imagine being in the theatre.

Repeated depictions of child sex abuse, self harm, rape, suicide with nothing left to the imagination.

Has anyone else seen it?

@OrangesOnlyFruit really appreciate your post (and I highly doubt you are dead inside!). I haven't seen it yet (see my post above) but this is my biggest concern always with things like this; if the violence somehow illuminates human behaviour and moves people to greater compassion I am on board, if it's gratuitous and/or seems pointless I cannot stand it. Obviously it's in the eye of the beholder to some extent but yours seems the lone view here so far that it did not move you, so you've kind of alerted me to that possibility. Thank you.

There is a thread in culture vultures on it if anyone is interested!

I saw it - thought the acting was amazing ( particularly Luke Thompson and James Norton) and it definitely challenged me, but I veered to finding the violence and story gratuitous and oddly it was so relentless I wasn’t particularly moved by the end. It’s almost like a passion play it’s so over the top. I was front row and it was intense …

I tried the book and also hated that!

You've captured my thoughts really well - that there was just so much horror, I kind of became a bit desensitised to it which is why I was kind of unmoved. And I also think that feeds into my feeling that the writers/directors were trying to just absolutely pack it with horror to be a bit edgy.

It's hard to articulate but it left me feeling a little bit like when you watch a slasher film. The first time the madman sneaks in to a house and beheads an innocent teenager, it's shocking. But by the tenth time I'm kind of over it.

There is also, of course, the remaining possibility that I am in fact dead inside 😆

This is so accurate. Although I was horrified at first, I kind of ended up quite blasé and eye rolly at horrendous things. Like, oh he’s being raped yet again, yawn. I hated that it made me feel like that.

I am also a bit dead inside though!

I agree with this. I went a couple of nights ago with my two daughters (both in their 20s). I read the book a few years ago and remembered the overall feel of the book but had forgotten many of the finer details. One daughter read the book recently and loved it. One hadn't read it.

We all enjoyed it but the one who hadn't read it got the least out of it. I think that was because, although we had warned her, I don't think she was mentally prepared for the awfulness.

The performances were extraordinary. James Norton mainly of course. but also Luke Thompson. The scenes with just the two of them were some of my favourites. They must have been physically and emotionally exhausted after just one performance. How they kept it up night after night is beyond me.

I am going tomorrow and taking a friend, I have read the book and though it was one of the best written books I have read. But we chose it for our Book Club and opinions were divided. I am a bit worried about how my friend will find it, she hasn't read the book and I have mentioned a few times that she really should at least read the reviews so she knows what to expect ... but she hasn't! Another friend saw the live performance and agreed it was stunning.

I'll report back tomorrow.

No but I've read the book so I'm not surprised.

@Ragwort I'm going tomorrow too, have you had a content advisory document emailed to you? I have - it will go to the person who booked and if nothing else will alert your friend to the fact that this is out of the normal run of content warnings, defo another level. I've literally never had this before when booking a cinema ticket. It's three pages long!
I hope she's ok, I certainly have taken on board many reviews and opinions and will be going psychically padded up and prepared to be uber-distressed and possibly even want to leave, all of which makes it more likely I'll be able to deal with it.
Good luck. Not read the book BTW.

@TinaYouFatLard - the odd thing is I actually am moved really easily ( and actually cry easily at theatre as well!).

It was the repetitiveness but also ( and I won’t post what as don’t want spoilers) the last two main things that happened to Jude just really seemed so OTT ( and unnecessary) as to tip it over the edge. Also there isn’t really much building to explain why all these friends love Jude so much - we are just told it ( I do think Luke Thompson was fantastic with what he did to build that emotion with such a relatively lightly drawn character - I was actually most moved by him).

Having said all that it certainly made me think and question why I was watching this/was I complicit in some way. And I’ve probably thought about it more than almost anything else I’ve seen this year at the theatre!

@heldinadream could you share some of what the document said? I'm intrigued

I'd be concerned about a 17 year old who chose to read this incredibly traumatic story of child abuse and self harm several times.

@ClassicStripe here's the whole thing. 🙂
ALL Combined Content Warning PDF[73].pdf

Saw it at the theatre. Harrowing. Endless angst.

Norton was fantastic but it was too long. And the prose to play was lamentable. Liked the book, but also too long.

held no, I haven't had the email warning. I hope my friend will be OK .. she is pretty robust.

Just checked the cinema and there's less than 20 seats booked, it's quite 'sophisticated' (can't think of a better word) for the town we live in and clearly not to everyone's taste.

Loved the book, possibly my favourite of all time and I recommend it to people. I just couldn't watch it in an theatre or on screen. The book took a while to read and spans about 30 yrs, and so many horrific things happen but so many heartwarming moments too, but the idea of cramming all that into a short time frame makes it inevitable that it's going to be too intense and tragic.

In now, in the interval. It's brilliant and awful but bearable.
Is part 2 gonna be harder?

Amazing production, 'enjoy' is the wrong word perhaps but I am so glad I saw this, the acting was superb.

Yes me too. Extraordinary acting. To be honest I would like to go see it live.

I saw the play about 6 weeks ago & watched it at the cinema this afternoon. Due to the amazing acting & subject matter, it will stay with me for a long time. Subject is very graphic, Jude is so damaged, for me I couldn't help but be moved. It is a long play but but I feel they thought we can't short change it, the subject is too strong to take short cuts.
I'll be reading the book next.

This is the description taken from Cineworld "A LITTLE LIFE follows four college friends in New York City: aspiring actor Willem, successful architect Malcolm, struggling artist JB, and prodigious lawyer Jude. As ambition, addiction, and pride threaten to pull the group apart, they always find themselves bound by their love for Jude and the mysteries of his past. But when those secrets come to light, they finally learn that to know Jude St Francis is to understand the limitless potential of love in the face of life."
I'd now call that seriously misleading. Been tonight with three friends and none of us had read the book. Interestingly while we thought the acting was amazing none of us cried. It was just unrelenting in graphic depiction of pain, abuse and self-harm. We stayed but quite a few walked out. I won't be reading the book nor recommending seeing it.

I’ve read the book as recommended to me

at first I found the book very moving and had to put it aside for a few few days as it was emotionally draining. I started to read it again and after a while like others have said I felt desensitised. Towards the end I tended to role my eyes at yet another horrific abusive memory from another abuser

the book felt manipulative and forced and I am surprised it’s considered a well written book

I left during the interval; honestly couldn’t face seeing any more. Some brilliant acting, but it was too harrowing for me. I’m happy to be challenged as well as entertained, but two hours of such horrific abuse was more than enough for me.

I agree @HRTQueen
I read the book when it first came out, and although it was a quick read, I found it progressively more ridiculous and overblown with few likeable characters. I can’t for the life of me understand why anyone would write something as grim as that and the whole thing left me with an uneasy feeling. The last thing I’d want to do is go see it in a theatre.

I hated the book - I don't remember why I even finished it. I would never see the film.