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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To think Olivia Colman is actually too good an actor?

38 replies

CherryPicking · 16/12/2015 22:53

Watching last week's episode of Peepshow tonight (I'm a week behind, no spoilers please). That bit where she turned up rat arsed to the soft play centre was almost too painful to watch, in the middle of all the ridiculousness that isthe Mark,Jeremy,Superhans drama. AIBU?

OP posts:
Original poster
CherryPicking · 16/12/2015 23:02

.

OP posts:
ghostyslovesheep · 16/12/2015 23:06

I'm not sure what you mean? How can you be 'too good' at your job?

Shallishanti · 16/12/2015 23:07

I think there's always an element like that in the best comedy- the people are suffering somehow and you believe in them- otherwise it's just slapstick

Original poster
CherryPicking · 16/12/2015 23:13

Well I suppose really great actors make you forget they're acting. That's what I mean if you're going to be pedantic. And sometimes that can be a bit disturbing if the subject matter is dark.

I remember when you used to be able to have decent conversations on Mn without having to pedant check every bloody word...

OP posts:
VestalVirgin · 16/12/2015 23:17

ghosty, you can be too good at acting. It's like, when someone is beheaded on a theatre stage, you want the blood to look a bit fake, you want the swords to look a bit fake, and you really want the rolling head to look fake. You don't want to have to doubt whether it is really just acting.

And in the same way, I could imagine some actors might be so good that people wonder whether they are really in distress. And not enjoy the acting as a consequence.

SquareRootOfPie · 16/12/2015 23:17

Are they still making the peep show? I love that show. I think it could have been the biggest pile of corny annoying rubbish if they'd been mediocre actors but they are all fantastic actors.

ghostyslovesheep · 16/12/2015 23:17

erm okay Confused it was a genuine question not anything more

Binglesplodge · 16/12/2015 23:20

Yes, she was fabulous. With anyone else in the role that whole episode would have been a madcap slapstick fest but she was frighteningly real. She's an exceptional actress.

2rebecca · 16/12/2015 23:21

She always seems to play exactly the same role in anything I've seen her in so I'm not convinced she can act. Earnest and mumsy, earth mothery sometimes a bit absent minded but always mumsy.
If she can do evil sexy seductress or hard headed career woman I've not seen those ones.

lorelei9 · 16/12/2015 23:36

Ive not watched this but she was so good in the first series of Broadchurch, the pain of her character was visceral. She's amazing.

Marzipanface · 16/12/2015 23:37

No. I've seen her do other roles and she is fantastic.

RoaryMouth · 16/12/2015 23:40

I think she's the best! She plays many different roles believably - downtrodden, weak, funny, dramatic. The fact she may often play mother/mumsy roles is because she is a women of mothering age. Evil sexy seductress - no. But certainly varied and well acted.

Ilovetorrentialrain · 17/12/2015 00:00

OP I didn't get it either and was going to ask. Glad ghostie got there before me and took the hit! (Joking).

Know what you mean now though.

PenelopePitstops · 17/12/2015 00:05

Oh she so isn't the same in everything. Have you seen her in Rev? Absolutely fantastic.

Peep show was the making of her.

Mrsjamesdeanbradfield · 17/12/2015 00:13

She is amazing in tyrannosaur as well.

2rebecca · 17/12/2015 00:16

She always seems to play downtrodden and mumsy though. If she was in a film with a first and second wife you could guarentee she'd be playing the struggling first wife (who really really loves her kids, she's very Peter Andree in that) not the second wife.
Audrey Hepburn was a woman of mothering age, she didn't play mumsy all the time.

ComposHatComesBack · 17/12/2015 00:21

I generally like her but was not convinced by her in Broadchurch, her accent was all over the place veering between a wurzuls-esque generic yokel accent to cut glass RP and back within a single scene.

ComposHatComesBack · 17/12/2015 00:24

I don't think she is downtrodden in Peep Show at all, Sophie like Mark is insecure but capable of being selfish, hedonistic and assertive.

DSClarke · 17/12/2015 00:28

She certainly was not Mumsy or downtrodden in the Lobster. She was terrifying and hilarious at the same time.

m.youtube.com/watch?v=bemcHBqng4o

Aspergallus · 17/12/2015 00:32

She is so good in Tyrannosaur. Heartbreaking.

DioneTheDiabolist · 17/12/2015 00:37

She played drunk so well in that episode. She was amazing.

liinyo · 17/12/2015 01:08

OMG. The Lobster! Weirdest movie ever and yet the best movie for years. And she was BRILLIANT. And Sophie is not mumsy or downtrodden at all. OC plays her brilliantly as a nuanced character who somehow gets our sympathy despite the fact her behaviour is as appalling as Mark or Jez. If she comes across as too good it is because she is exactly good enough.

And OP you really are living upto your name. If you post something, you need to accept the responses as they are, not just accept the ones you like and object to the others.

Wagglebees · 17/12/2015 02:13

Ghosty Here, Wine. I got that you were just asking a question and not having a dig.

YellowBucket · 17/12/2015 02:59

I think she is a brilliant actress, she brings her characters to life. I loved her as Harriet in Green Wing. So delightfully scatty, warm and funny.

OP I think I understand what you mean about feeling for a character. I often find myself embarrassed or upset on her behalf. She is believable. Not all actors have this power over me.

penelope I agree about Rev too

echt · 17/12/2015 05:25

Outstanding in Tyrannosuar. I liked her Beautiful People, too.