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.

I'm finding it hard viewing as I made a lot of mistakes in my late teens/ early twenties and totally hated my uni years. All a bit too familiar!

The character Marianne obviously has fake pubic hair. Daisy is wearing a covering over her private parts for privacy. If you look closely you can see that it is a patch.

I haven't actually felt the need to 'look closely' strangely...

@pawsforawhile

I might watch it again when I'm in a better place.

I missed that chapter of my life and met my first real love in my 40s . The sex scenes in this made me cry , they were powerful and real and made me feel what I lost . Ditto with the miscommunication and clumsy attempts to convey their real feelings verbally. It was so close to my own experience it hurt at times and I found myself thinking why don't people just say why they mean!!

I wanted them to be together. I found the end sad for that reason. I hope they find each other again after they graduate.

I agree the emotional and intimate connection were powerful and heart grabbing. The show was not trying to focus on the act but the connection they had. "Real" intimacy involves foreplay which obviously they can't show because these are sexual "stunts" are done safely and you don't see Connell ever touching her breasts with his hands or mouth. Daisy admitted that most of the time they are partially clothed so they both feel safe. I guess my point is that this should not be a 101 manual of how to make love. Teenagers my get the wrong impression.

@xzhrfb

The character Marianne obviously has fake pubic hair. Daisy is wearing a covering over her private parts for privacy. If you look closely you can see that it is a patch.

This must be the strangest post on this whole thread. Did you pause it to zoom in on her? It’s literally a second shot.

@xzhrfb as a 101 manual of how to make love there are definitely far worse things teenagers could be watching.

The sex scenes were definitely to illustrate the connection they had to each other and were not gratuitous imo. There were several occasions were it was indicated that Connell was touching her before they had sex - first love scene and the one where they'd just woken up. I thought they were beautiful and believable sex scenes.

This series has really really stayed with me and brought up all sorts of memories - good and sad

[quote caperplips]@xzhrfb as a 101 manual of how to make love there are definitely far worse things teenagers could be watching.

The sex scenes were definitely to illustrate the connection they had to each other and were not gratuitous imo. There were several occasions were it was indicated that Connell was touching her before they had sex - first love scene and the one where they'd just woken up. I thought they were beautiful and believable sex scenes.

This series has really really stayed with me and brought up all sorts of memories - good and sad[/quote]
Not at all. My point was that it just didn't look real at all even if it was as you put it, a "second shot" The point of movies is to make the fake look real.

@caperplips oopps... this reply was for the comment above and not yours... sorry

@caperplips

I agree the scenes were moving and powerful and better than most others in movies. It has also stayed with me for a while now.

I could be wrong but I'm sure the scene where they are in her kitchen and says he's having to move back home we're gulmed twice from different perspectives. I think the first time he says shall we see each other people and the second time I guess YOU will be wanting to see other people.

When she asked him to hit her I was so frustrated. They had just started to explain how they felt and she went and ruined it.

I didn't like how she had to keep replacing the boyfriends.

Also they either ignored each other didn't speak had intense conversations or sex (apart from Italy) they never went out to eat or anything so I don't think they would work out as a proper couple.

I didn't like the ending. I thought she was building up to say she would go with him. My DH worked away lots when I was 21 (still does) often up to 6 months (not able to come home at all) it didn't accur yo us to see other people. But we weren't at uni / around temptation.

I meant to read back over what I'd written as I use auto correct but accidentally pressed post.

A lot of the story was so frustrating. It left me with a lot of unanswered questions but no desire for Season 2.

Louise5754: Yes, they both ‘heard’ different conversations at that point through their own interpretations, and so remembered the other as stating something different, ie ‘perhaps we’ll see other people’ versus “you’ll be wanting to see other people I suppose’. It just highlights how they misunderstand the situation: Connell thinks saying he’s lost his job, can’t pay the rent and so will have to go back to Sligo for the summer to live with his mum rent free means that Marianne will naturally invite him to stay with her in Dublin, whereas she Is so unatuned to his precarious financial situation that she thinks he Is talking about going back home to have a break from her and see others. I thought it was brilliantly done in the tv version, and very true to the book - the frustrations and inarticulacies of relationships, seemingly so intimate yet full of misunderstandings.

Connell's pride gets in the way if him being able to ask Marianne outright if he can stay with her, in the book he puts it off again and again despite really wanting it as he thinks it is too much like asking her for money. He also thinks, from being part of the TCD group who have a lot of money and travel etc that what Marianne really wants is a boyfriend who can take her out for meals and bring her skiing etc and once he hears she is going out with Jamie, it reinforces this for him as Jamie is very wealthy and has a notorious business man father.

The only bit in the whole story that jars for me, and neither the book nor the series give any reason for it is - why does she ask Connell to hit her that time?

She has told him already that she doesn't need to act out those roles with him as the feelings of submitting to him are real. And she had him reassure her that he would never hit a woman in their very early days (Actually I'm not sure why the series changes the details there either - she said in the series that her father didn't hit her but in the book she told Connell he did sometimes and this knowledge has a long lasting affect on him)

So why did she ask him to do it?

Asking him to tell her she belonged to him, I understand and what pity he didn't tell her then that they belonged to each other....

But the hitting - I don't understand that motivation.

I don't think Marianne 'had to keep replacing boyfriends', I think she was young and beautiful and exploring her options whilst in college. Over the course of 4 years she had 4 boyfriends - some short-lived like Gareth and I include Connell in that. That doesn't seem excessive?

Connell had a similar amount of girlfriends - Marianne, Rachel, Teresa, Helen and in the book there's references of him sleeping with an older sister of a friends and the encounter with Ms Neary!

@ittooshallpass

I'm finding it hard viewing as I made a lot of mistakes in my late teens/ early twenties and totally hated my uni years. All a bit too familiar!

This, by the bucketload. The scene where Connell is talking to the counsellor encapsulated my whole university experience so well that I think I held my breath for the whole thing. If DH hadn’t been in the room watching with me I think I would have sobbed. It felt very powerful. I also made lots of relationship mistakes in my late teens/early 20s that I still torture myself about on occasion so the whole thing was really affecting. I need to watch it again, alone, for some kind of catharsis

Connell and Marianne will always be drawn to each other. They have been emailing each other so why can't that happen when he is away for a year in NY?. Remember, "it is not like that with other people." I agree that the whole separation thing at the end is frustrating. The natural thing to do is just stay together but these are broken characters. In my mind they do finally settle down together and act as a real couple in private and in public. Everyone seeks true love in its purest form.

@caperplips I suppose it's a matter of opinion but 4 men in 4 years does seem a lot to me.

[quote louise5754]@caperplips I suppose it's a matter of opinion but 4 men in 4 years does seem a lot to me.

[/quote]
and 3 of them were unhealthy relationships is you call them that. Connell has very well placed lines that ring true to Marianne. Sad when someone feels that their self worth is nothing. Both parts were brilliantly acted because of the effect they have on the viewers.

I'm watching for the second time. It's strange as now I'm wondering why they're both doing it to themselves. The first time I was emotional and really wanted them to get together.

I have watched it all twice and picked up on certain things second time round that I somehow missed the first time. I enjoyed it just as much. I have also re-read the book in between viewings (over-invested!)

I think it is incredible how affecting it has been on so many people. I watched it with my dh the second time and he loved it too. He just said this evening that he had thought about it a lot since we saw it and we both wished there was more tv / film of this quality.

There's so much absolute dross on tv and netflix and it's hard to understand how they get made.

I can think of loads of incredible books I would love to see getting the Normal people treatment, I found it so compelling not only because of the incredibly resonant story but also the quality of acting, the set design, the colour palette, the music etc etc

we need more!

@Louise5754 have you read the book?
I found reading the book inbetween watching the series each time was really good as it does give more insight as to why they are the way they are.

I haven’t watch the series, only read the book.
How much do they emphasise Marianne’s abuse by her family in the series? I found that hard to get through in the book.

The movie implies that she wasn't abused by her father but I think she was. Often an abuser abuses everyone. There are subtle changes from the book to TV but the overall themes and atmosphere are the same.

Casting was a huge part of this series being so successful. I wonder if other leads would have had the same effect on people as these 2 did. I have watch many other love stories but this one is different and has affected me more than others. It is taking a while to digest why. With other movies the affect is fleeting and goes away quickly.