It's really hard to feel empathy for Patrick in the first episode. Why would a rich man behave like that? What is he missing in his life? And how disrespectful is to kick on the floor his father's urn. The series at this point seems to be the story of fighting for self-control, regaining lucidity, getting rid of drugs: it seems like a spin off of Scorsese's The Wolf of Wall Street. An unpredictable and incessant pursuit of pleasure just for the sake of pleasure.
But the following episodes, set in the past (but without interrupting the narrative), make the viewer's beliefs collapse and deliver the reality: it is a story of incestuous sexual abuse. Suddenly everything seems to make sense and Patrick is forgiven everything. From the lack of self-control he shifts to the most severe form of self-control, to the point of limiting himself and his family. Even his close friend ask Patrick if it was not the case to "make a change and finally bind with someone", as any viewer would ask him.
Perhaps from this point of view the detachment from reality is really exaggerated: at times it is not clear whether the rambling and "silly" behavior is due to the memories, or to his laziness of building human relationships. Empathy just leaves space for commiseration so many times.
But on the other hand the series transmits the powerful messages of the complexity of human relationships, of the possibility until the last moment to save oneself from his own bad thoughts, and that suffering does not know social class: you can try to commit suicide and use heroin even in a 5-star suite.
7/10
This literally emerged from a guy saying "I've been through a lot of shit, my life could be a novel" which is something we all think at some point in our lives, only this time the guy ACTUALLY wrote it. Not only one but five novels. And these are the five episodes based on those novels. Enjoy the pointless tragedy of a random depressed guy.
Beautiful. Hilarious. Smart. And yes, Mr Cumberbatch is perfect for the role.
Benedict Cumberbatch is a brilliant, elastic, mercurial performer, but, beyond the acting challenges it offered I saw no point to this story. I give this series a 5 (meh) out of 10, and, uncharacteristically, gave up on it after 1 episode. [Drama, definitely not a Comedy - despite the billing]
Brilliantly acted; equal parts hilarious and harrowing
Directed by Edward Berger, and written for the screen by David Nicholls, this five-part miniseries is based on the semi-autobiographical Patrick Melrose novels by Edward St Aubyn. Published between 1992 and 2011, the five novels (Never Mind, Bad News, Some Hope, Mother's Milk, and At Last), were essentially part of St Aubyn's rehabilitation, as he battled a crippling series of addictions stemming from sexual abuse at the hands of his father when he was a child. The series has its flaws, and I don't know if it was an advantage or a disadvantage that I hadn't read the novels before watching it, but Benedict Cumberbatch's fearless portrayal of the various stages of addiction and recovery is good enough to paper over (most of) the cracks.
For my complete review, please visit: https://boxd.it/yMYqF
Lovely writing and directing, great production values, excellent acting, this is a deep, entertaining, fascinating show.
The fall of an aristocracy, and the sins of their fathers.
I kind of want my 5 hours back.
Benedict Cumberbatch's best performance and the show is painfully good!
硬要指摘的话缺点也只有1.拍的英国场景太美国2.每集BC都要歇斯底里一下感觉有点刻意展示演技>_> 其余我觉着这是一部画面精美，讲述“恶”与“恨”的世代相传且无法战胜的黑暗故事，绿色小蜥蜴的设计独出匠心
This show really does its work.
Cumberbatch should be raking in the awards for his incredible performance; it's too bad that this past year was such a stacked one in the TV miniseries field.
Shout by SigHunterVIP 9BlockedParent2018-07-02T08:48:04Z
high quality production, mostly on location, no cgi, highest grade acting, very dark and sometimes depressing