Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. Flexible and made to last.

Meet the Other Phone.
Flexible and made to last.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

Handmaids tale

82 replies

OttilieStonelady · 11/08/2021 10:49

I've only just started watching (not a huge TV fan). Does anyone else find it heart wrenching? Impossible to watch? I don't get emotional about TV shows. I actually feel sick watching it. I can't even explain it. I feel like I need to stop watching as I always feel really down after. Anyone else feel like this with handmaids tale (or any other TV show)?? I can't stop watching but also want to turn it off!!!

OP posts:
Tablow · 11/08/2021 11:57

I've only managed to watch two of the series. One whilst pregnant which was harrowing. The bits in the book about her trying to remember the smell of her daughter just are horrendous. It is heart wrenching.

I did find the testaments pretty awful though.

Panickingpavlova · 11/08/2021 12:00

Indeed nothing that hasn't happened or is happening.

At the time posters were attributing the trump regime as a comparison. Personally I feel the sharia law based countries as a more apt comparison eg Saudi Arabia and poor Afghanistan... Strict Islamic countries where women are subjugated and controlled.

BingeOnChocolate · 11/08/2021 12:10

I started this on Sunday and said the exact same thing to DP and my neighbour. I'm now on Season 2 because I just HAVE to know what happens. It's so so so hard to watch at times Sad

leftistbimbo · 11/08/2021 12:42

I love a dystopian show/book/movie & I think it’s a fantastic program, even though it is very harrowing. My mum couldn’t believe it when I was binge watching the first few seasons because it’s such a hard watch. I did cry when catching up with the most recent series over the weekend, I agree with a PP that you have to be in the right mood to watch it.

If you haven’t read the book, I would recommend it and the sequel called “Testaments”.

SchrodingersImmigrant · 11/08/2021 12:54

I loved itBlush
I have a strong separation between what's on screen and what's irl so I don't think I ever cried at tv or it left me shaken unless it was news.

It does make you think though, that's what I liked on it.

Hankunamatata · 11/08/2021 12:55

Its compulsive watching. I love dystopian stuff so perhaps I'm more hardened. I actually think its brilliant as women around the world are living these experiences and it reminds me how privileged my life is.

FedNlanders · 11/08/2021 13:02

Because its all based on reality. Its real.

HelenHywater · 11/08/2021 13:07

Yes, it's exceptionally harrowing. Until the recent episodes, I cried in every one. (I binge watched series 2 and 3 and part of 4). It's just such a hard watch. Because it's shocking and based in reality.

I'm not sure I could have watched it while pregnant tbh. It's hard enough being a mother and woman and watching it.

TheTingTing · 11/08/2021 13:10

Loved the book but stopped watching the series as it was rubbish. Bough the second book but didn’t read it in case it tarnished the first!

Arsebucket · 11/08/2021 13:18

I’ve never watched it.

I’ve read the book a few times so I have my own “film” version of it in my head if that makes sense. Seeing someone else’s interpretation of that would ruin it for me.

CheekyChewinski · 11/08/2021 13:19

I am a huge fan. It is harrowing. And I wait until I'm in a good mood to watch the next ep or it can really get you down if you're not in a great headspace.

I was talking about it coming back for s4 to a mum from school and she hadn't heard of it so started watching it on my recommendation. She's from Africa and caught me at pick up and said to me, you know this is real? She went on to explain that she escaped from Africa and it happens there. Woman work on the farms (black African woman) and they are expected to service the (usually white men) farmers. She said the whole set up is so similar. The children are then kept there and raised to do the same from a very young age.

I felt really stupid for recommending it to be honest.

AntiFlag · 11/08/2021 13:23

@CheekyChewinski this was also revealed to be happening in clothing factories - was it Levi’s maybe? Women being raped daily and they feel they have to put up with it otherwise they’d lose their jobs.

SirenSays · 11/08/2021 13:23

I love the show, though I do think the book was better. I have felt like I'm just gritting my teeth and waiting for a break during some moments. I found the scene with the handmaid's punished in the rain particularly hard, especially because Hollywood rain like that is hell for the actors.
I felt the same way during certain parts of breaking bad. Desperate for the never ending tension to break and give me a bit of respite.

TheLovleyChebbyMcGee · 11/08/2021 13:24

I love it!! Totally agree with the comments about you want to switch it off, but can't. I binged it when I was off on maternity leave a few years ago, it made me cry so much!

imaginethemdragons · 11/08/2021 13:24

Yes very tough watch but I live for June’s victories, no matter how small, they are magnified because of the bleakness.
The music is superb, the way that you get washed along in the history of it then get shocked like a punch in the guts when the modern world intersperses the story and you think, “oh god yeah, it’s not in the past, this is modern life”…but how? How is this going on?
It’s so so clever.

I have enjoyed it because I have been forced from my world into this world without ever knowing it existed.

WhatATimeToBeAlive · 11/08/2021 13:24

It's not an easy watch but it's absolutely brilliant. I love it.

CheekyChewinski · 11/08/2021 13:25

Yes agreed the music is superb!

@AntiFlag Sad I can't even say it surprises me.

Mummyoflittledragon · 11/08/2021 13:42

I do agree to a certain point with DrS that the show does get repetitive at times and it is definitely implausible that June escapes state sanctioned punishment when other women do not for the same or lesser crimes. However, I haven’t read the book and I wait for the next episode every week in anticipation despite it being a harrowing watch.

Mummyoflittledragon · 11/08/2021 13:42

Oh and yes, the music is outstanding.

dapsnotplimsolls · 11/08/2021 13:59

I have to watch something fluffy after each episode on Sundays before I go to bed! I understand what you mean by harrowing but also addictive - I re-watched series 3 before series 4 then struggled with it just being on once a week so re-watched 1 and 2 in between the new episodes!

mammummt793 · 11/08/2021 14:26

I was exactly the same OP! I've watched a lot of bleak stuff and work in child protection/domestic violence so I have seen a lot of awful stuff in real life too but I just can't, I feel tearful and sick even thinking about some of the bits I have seenConfused

ponyexpress22 · 11/08/2021 14:30

I found "Aunt Lydia" an unbelievable character. To change so much from a normal warm human being into the monster she became just because a man rejected her.

CheekyChewinski · 11/08/2021 14:32

@ponyexpress22 yes I must admit I struggle with her character. Did you see the episode last Sunday?

Tattiespuds · 11/08/2021 14:43

I found it an uncomfortable but compiling watch. I binged watched it and now up to date, the current and last season aren't as brutal. There was times in the earlier season I felt j couldn't keep watching but I couldn't stop myself from watching.

MazDazzle · 11/08/2021 16:26

@AnneLovesGilbert it reads like fan fiction. I enjoyed it, even though I thought it was shite. It’s an easy read. The writing is on par with 50 Shades. Very plot driven. It’s hard to believe both books are by the same author. The style of writing in the original book is so tight, by comparison The Testaments is waffle. There were pages where I shouted out loud ‘Oh come on!’ and Atwood writing from the voice of a modern day teenager is laughable. I still enjoyed delving back into Gilead though.