I am Victoria

[Aquarius1234]

9pm Channel 4.
New series with 3 different female well known actresses.

And her on-line therapy session at the end! ‘So, you’re at the start of your journey?’ Aaaargh!!

Am I the only one that got it? I thought it was a good depiction of a mental health issue. I recognised a lot of the behaviours which I have seen in a friend who is in treatment now.
Dh hated it - but he can’t cope with anything about mental health.

I found it very true to life and Victoria acted very similarly to how I behaved when I was suffering from extreme anxiety/borderline depression a couple of years ago. I certainly felt it represented my experience, and I have to say that the husband behaved in a similar way to how my dh responded to me at my worst point.

That's not to say that it was an easy or enjoyable watch, because it wasn't, but I don't think it being written by a man means that it isn't true to life as I found it a true representation of my own personal experience, even down to the faking of emotions and rehearsing how I was going to speak to people.

Difficult to watch.

Missed the first 15 minutes though, felt the sister was really pushing her and I would’ve responded more strongly most likely!

What was her mental health issue, severe anxiety?

She's a great actress but this was depressing. The husband seemed happy to let her carry the load as the main breadwinner and her sister was happy to freeload off her financially, but neither of them gave her much support back.

She had become obsessive in her attempts to control everything and was aiming for perfection, but the husband almost seemed to be gaslighting her at times... like when he was pushing for a kiss when she was immersed in work, then acted like the poor neglected victim. He seemed to lack drive and she had over compensated for it. It was all a bit strange really.

I think I would have punched the sister so she showed lots of restraint there!

Agree, women don’t tend to throw themselves under trains.

I did feel for her when she was shouting at her husband to just leave her alone. That bit was realistic. Just wanting to be left alone or escape.

I did miss lots at the beginning so maybe I’m being harsh and I do think Suranne is great in everything she does.

@Craftycorvid

And her on-line therapy session at the end! ‘So, you’re at the start of your journey?’ Aaaargh!!

I think if any of my therapists started our work together like that I’d feel they were completely negating all my experiences up until that point. Nope, this is where you join my journey. I’ve been here for miles and miles!

I think the reason I think it is poor is that it did not do a good job of exploring the rationale behind the behaviours, or what Victoria was actually feeling. It just presented her as being a self-obsessed emotionally unstable perfectionist “because I just want people to like me” I think was the line. The whole thing was just really shallow, yet seemed to think it was making some profound statement about mental health.

@UrbanRambler

She's a great actress but this was depressing. The husband seemed happy to let her carry the load as the main breadwinner and her sister was happy to freeload off her financially, but neither of them gave her much support back.

She had become obsessive in her attempts to control everything and was aiming for perfection, but the husband almost seemed to be gaslighting her at times... like when he was pushing for a kiss when she was immersed in work, then acted like the poor neglected victim. He seemed to lack drive and she had over compensated for it. It was all a bit strange really.

That’s a really good summary

Will prob watch the other two on All 4 soon.
Love Lesley Manville.

I found it gripping. Unpleasant and like looking in the mirror. I felt the lack of diagnosis/opaque nature of Victoria's problems were a conscious choice and reflected the complex nature of 'functional' depression/anxiety/ocd. If anything, I found the ending too upbeat and hopeful.

I thought it was good. I enjoyed last year's "I am" episodes too.

Well said, @LemonViolet

I thought it was really brilliant. She was clearly overwrought and obsessive and the oh so chilled husband made things just a million times worse.

Instead of helping he belittled. Yes she was OTT but couldn’t he have pitched in rather than drink juice and tell her it doesn’t matter what she cooks while she’s the one who shopped and cooked for it.

Apparently most of the dialogue was improvised.

I thought it was really good. The scenes where she’s combing the same section of her hair over and over again and saying “hi” abs smiling to an imaginary person and talking to herself - just chilling.

I thought it was like she just didn’t know herself, she was trying to act a role instead of just being herself, hence the smiling in the mirror etc

I'm not sure what the point of the scenes were with her sister, sis was a CF!

Husband so laid back that I thought that it would turn out that he was abusive.

It was ok, but like the last series I thought that it was a bit of a waste of the main actor's talents. There is something missing from the writing I think, it might be as simple as the fact that this type of series would really benefit from a female writer.

Perhaps they could all be 90s mins. But obv small budget.

Male writers have cottoned onto the fact that they can sell scripts about female characters. Sadly very few female writers are given the same opportunity.

I think the scene with the sister gave you the entire back story, to wit, manipulative mother, with sister as accomplice, (“mum always told us to share”), probably poor/short of money so Victoria compensates/escapes by over-achieving. So she is carrying huge issues from childhood, then marries a waster as that is what overachievers often do, or else he just like her father.
I liked it more than I thought I would.

Do we know that the husband was a waster?
I appreciate we didn't see him doing any work(!) but do we know that he didn't do any or are we assuming that? - I honestly didn't know.
Not sure what I thought about it really but I had to watch to the end.

Suranne Jones usually good. Not this time. Badlyvwritten, badly acted and full of shouting.Turned over halfway through. Loada shite.

Just found this but are you guys talking about the first or second series - both are on 4 on demand

Ah okay so watching series 1 and it isn't surranne it's the beautiful Vicky McClure!