Normal People
2020
Original language: English
- drama
The story
Marianne and Connell weave in and out of each other's lives in this exploration of sex, power and the desire to love and be loved.
What it’s like
Soft, unhurried natural light falls through kitchen windows, bedroom curtains and the grey Irish daylight of Sligo and Dublin, with close, intimate framing that lingers on faces, hands and half-turned shoulders. The palette is muted and warm: sweaters, wet pavements, pale skin, the occasional bright slash of a red coat against drab streets. Scenes often sit in quiet, with only room tone, a distant car, or a sparse, tender piano score rising to underline a silence. Its pace is deliberate and conversational, built from small gestures and long pauses rather than events, and the emotional register is tender, aching and frank. Across the years, two young people keep circling each other, misreading and wanting, as the balance of class, confidence and need shifts between them. Intimacy is present and explicit in places, with several sex scenes that are candid rather than gratuitous, and there is some emotional cruelty and a brief scene of self-harm; violence is rare. It suits a late, quiet evening or a rainy weekend, and is for viewers who want a slow, honest study of first love and its aftermath.
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