Normal People on BBC3

[Bouledeneige]

Binge watched it yesterday and loved it. Emotional, passionate and two really great leads. Thoroughly recommend it (so long as you don't mind lots of love scenes). Cried lie and felt bereft when it finished.

The Eddy on Netflix

God I loved it. I had tears rolling down my face at the final scene.

I have watched the whole thing twice over four nights.

It was just so real. That’s what you rarely find on tv anymore. I totally believed in them. They were frustrating and not at all suited as a couple in the long term - they made far better friends who were just very sexually attracted to each other. They would make a terribly unhappy married couple though.

I usually dislike sex scenes on screen. But this I loved. The sex was so real, so normal. There was nothing that came from porn (I’m talking about between Connell and Marianne not the others). Marianne is enjoying the sex. She doesn’t have a pained expression as she’s vigorously rogered from behind with a man panting obscenities at her and using her as a hole to fill.

No, it’s beautiful. It’s normal. Just into it, not looking to be debased, not screaming and yelling, just love and mutual pleasure. Very moving. And totally part of the storyline. Which is rarely the case in tv dramas where shagging is shoehorned in for ratings.

They were incredible actors. Cinematography and music wonderfully done. I hope there isn’t a second series because it was perfect as it was. And I think people would only be disappointed because it’s unlikely they would make it as a couple once they’d left Trinity.

Wow, the exquisite agony of first love. It’s hard to let go of. I married mine.

Must say I didn’t like the scenes with Helen - too drawn out. We don’t care about Helen or Connell’s relationship with her. You were watching it just waiting for him it to be over. I haven’t read the book but on screen I couldn’t see any chemistry between them at all.

Beautiful as it was, I do keep returning to the original betrayal and thinking it would be impossible/unhealthy for a relationship to develop from that beginning. Imagine being with someone long-term who had originally considered you embarrassing to be around. How would you recover from that? When he took the other girl to the dance? I know he felt genuine remorse but for her to forgive and put it behind her? I’m not sure.

Another thing I wasn’t convinced about was that Connell was this great man of letters. He could barely get a sensible sentence out. The one time he speaks in the seminar -‘d says something about Austen giving the reader a new chapter from Knightley’s perspective.... is that groundbreaking? Sure he read a lot and was clearly deeply moved by art and literature - but would that have transferred to his writing in a way that would have won awards and scholarships?

So those are the three things I found unconvincing.

But my love of the sex scenes remains - best sex I’ve ever seen on screen. Just so real.

I thought the acting was great but the story just seemed too drag on and on and on. They should of split up and be done with it by about episode 3. I found their ditherings tedious.
I also thought the abusive cruel boyfriend storyline tedious too.
It was nearly brilliant but not quite. Maybe it should just have been a movie.
I thought the sex scenes were good for dex scenes although they went on a bit and were a bit hammy.
Really excellent acting though.

My view of his relationship with Helen is that it was conventional . Uncomplicated. He shows affection to her in public which he never did with Marianne. Shows he can do that!

That said Helen was annoying as a character. And viewers don’t want them together obviously.

I thought the abusive story line was really well done. It showed how and why she has got into it and then him taking photos of her was such an awful experience after she had Said she wanted to send photos to Connell.

SpokeTooSoon why do you think they wouldn't make a happy married couple?

@SpokeTooSoon in the book Connel more or less describes his relationship with Helen as being easy and therefore relaxing, she knows what she wants and is a very sorted uncomplicated person with a nice family, it's like he takes a holiday from drama and angst when with her but ultimately it will never satisfy him and she can't handle the complications when his difficulties re-emerge.
I have come to the conclusion that M and C would not work long term, just can't see them handling things like decisions about mortgages and babies and jobs somehow. I too married my first big love, we had a bit of a rollercoaster ride and both did things that some people would find very hard to forgive when we were young and foolish so i dont find that bit so hard to believe, it's more been big life choices that have been hard to reconcile at times.
I do agree about the sex scenes though.

I've just started reading the book, did anyone else find the timelines all over the place in it?

I'm quite glad I watched the series first as I've found it easier to follow.

I'm pleasantly surprised just how well they managed to do the adaptation, as I haven't been too impressed with the book, whereas I completely loved the series and think it's one of the best things I've ever watched.

www.google.co.uk/amp/s/www.elle.com/culture/movies-tv/amp32337090/normal-people-show-book-differences-changes/

This Elle article talks about some of the changes that were made from the book to make it work on screen.

@SpokeTooSoon , thanks for the link.

The Daily Mail have been stalking Paul Mescal all week. Outside his flat taking pictures of him in his pyjamas. ☹️

Has he been breaking quarantine rules!?

No he had to answer the door for a parcel! E did go for his daily run in his very short shorts though.

Poor lad. It's a great first role for him but he ll be under the media spotlight alright!

I dont fancy him at all in real life, he just looks like any of my DS's pals from the rugby team, it shows you what a good actor he is that he brings something magnetic to the role of Connell. Not that I fancy him as Connell exactly, I'm old enough to be his mother, its more he provokes a strong memory of being that age and being in the orbit of attractive young men...

I can see the appeal to teenage females, but I know what you mean. I have 2 DSs and he could be a mate of theirs.
He’s a great actor, they both are.

Underwhelmed. Good acting but don’t think they explored the class element enough. Also the bit with M and the Swedish boyfriend wasn’t really explored properly. She’s clearly messed up but it’s taken as a given, without enough context.

People going in about the sex. Yes it was well done but there was too much of it. Got bored with it.

I wonder why people love it so much? Helping them remember the intensity of a first love maybe.

It caused me to have a bit of a breakdown. I'm in a very pragmatic friendly relationship and I've never had a 'first love' or indeed any love. I watched the first 5 episodes and it depicted love in a way I could really feel and believe and I went into a total decline about how much I've missed in life. So I guess it's very very good but it's kind of ruined my fragile happiness!

I’m not sure that intensity is so good tbh! Yes it feels marvellous but you leave yourself so vulnerable and ime fearing a break up or being let down, even when it’s all fabulous and lovely. I see very few long term relationships that started with that level of intensity.

@ValancyRedfern thing is, pragmatic friendly relationships work in real life but don't make great telly So we have to have all this intense, physical and emotional connection stuff. I'm not sure how common it is - everything in one person - in real life. But maybe I'm wrong, dunno.

Am near the end of this, having read the book before. I think they are both great actors - the bit where he phones her after the school dance and when he's describing how he feels to the counsellor were very moving.

Have enjoyed reading this thread and all the reflection on people's early adulthoods. I agree it is particularly poignant for middle-aged people like me!

Normal People
I don't think Marianne is "normal".
Her background is abusive. Her awful brother, her mother.
Thankfully that is not the norm.
She is so introspective.
She chooses the wrong boys/men who abuse her.

I haven't read the book and haven't finished the tv series.

I've just read the book after watching the TV programme.

I felt the emphasis was different and made them quite different. In the book, Connel rarely sees Marianne at school or sees interactions with those who bully her. I think in the book, you get a stronger sense that he actually does like her early on and Helen is more likeable as a character and their relationship more developed - he actually is happy with Helen until Robs suicide. Clearly we want him to be with Marianne, but Helen is a good character - they do love each other and it works for a good while. Peggy is more sinister in the book I think - more undermining and it becomes clear she was never really a good friend and the fact that there is a break up of the friendship group is more developed in the book. I agree that Connel is more aware of the class issue in the book - Marianne is a bit oblivious in both, but Connel's awareness of it comes through more in the book.

In both, I'm not sure the failure to communicate about the summer when Connel needs to stay at Mariannes really works, although in the book I think you get more of a sense of him gearing up to broach it and becoming increasingly unable to articulate it, so that when he does, it doesn't come out quite right. In the TV show, I think we see the scene twice - once through each persons view and I think the words we hear are not quite the same...to show they each think something different has been said. It is a poignant moment - a bit Hardy-esquire of failed communication which then diverts the story down a different route, even if it's doesn't feel quite right.

In the book, I think Connel realises earlier that no-one cared about him and Marianne and that a lot of it was in his own head. In the TV series when he speaks to her about people knowing about them, when they are at Trinity, I felt that even then, his tone says that he still can't quite believe they didn't care about it....he still isn't really beyond caring what people think about him and Mariannne in the home setting.

And sex is mentioned in the book, but there are very few descriptive scenes.....nothing about the loss of virginity for example. But those are good scenes in the TV programme and do add to it.

Unusually I actually liked the TV better.

Wombat - that’s an interesting point about Peggy in the book. I’ve only watched it, not yet read the book and couldn’t quite work out why Marianne says at one point how she thought the relationships with Peggy and Jamie were friendships at the time but now realised they weren’t, particularly as previously in Italy we see Peggy tell her that she is Marianne’s closest friend. I didn’t understand what had happened to end the friendship with Peggy.

And I thought it was rather strange that, before the arrival of Connell and Niall in Italy, it seemed to be the 3 of them at the villa - Marianne, Jamie and Peggy which seemed somewhat claustrophobic and not an ideal setup for a long summer holiday. I desperately wanted to see Joanna at the villa for some sane friendship! Does the book elucidate the holiday dynamics?

I think if Joanna was at the villa it would have been different. She would probably have taken Marianne away from Connell to comfort her, and if she was at that awful dinner she would have intervened?
I don’t think Marianne would have been in bed with Connell that night if Joanna was there.