Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *
Cast: Amy Adams, Patricia Clarkson, Chris Messina, Eliza Scanlen, Matt Craven, Sophia Lillis, Henry Czerny, Elizabeth Perkins, Taylor John Smith, Madison Davenport, Miguel Sandoval, Will Chase, Jackson Hurst, Lulu Wilson, David Sullivan, Violet Brinson, April Brinson, Barbara Eve Harris, Emily Yancy, Sydney Sweeney.
There are none who keep as close an eye on you than those who do not like you. Those who are true friends or family will almost always see what actions you take and, unless they are truly horrific, just scroll on past and accept you for what you are, but those who are in your life just to see you fail, who report back to others on your movements, they are the ones who hold the key to the poison cabinet, who would happily drive you to madness whilst telling you they are doing it for your own good.
The subject of Munchausen Syndrome by Proxy is one that is rarely tackled in mainstream television or literature, it is a painful and difficult issue to broach even in conversation, and there have been times when the diagnoses of the patient has been controversial, has been found to be a false narrative, leading to bitterness and recriminations in the health service, and accusations that would stand in tandem with the infamous witch trials of the 16th and 17th Century.
To witness such a physical trait in anyone is to feel disjointed, to understand that it is a mental illness that needs care and attention, but to feel sickened at the same time at the pain and abuse that has been inflicted on the recipient, the child at the heart of the matter.
It is arguably then important that Gillian Flynn’s masterful thriller, Sharp Objects, has had the opportunity to be turned into an eight-part serial and focus on the effects of the relationship between mental illness and how society reacts to it, how in even a tight knit community where everyone knows everybody else’s business, the signs of decay in the human psyche can go unnoticed, that even a death in the family can only be a time of sorrow, and not of concern.
Sharp Objects is not a television series that is easy to digest, the discomfort of the piece is through its genius, and as the tale of unease, as the heroine of the tale, Camille Preaker, returns home to confront her own demons in the wake of a double child murder, so the sense of discomposing heartache is explored, and it is one to which actors such as they irreplaceable Amy Adams, Patricia Clarkson, Eliza Scanlen, Sophia Lillis and Elizabeth Perkins bring a sublime sense of regret and occasion to the story in depth.
It is in the female domination of the story that the gut-wrenching truth appears, for we look for comfort in women, we seek assurance in their compassion and their empathy more so than we do arguably in any man, and yet the crux of this hangs on the balance of what we understand about gender and mental illness and is a terrifying reveal that makes the series stand out in the way it does.
It takes courage to present such a premise to a vast audience, it takes the ability of a questioning mind to place a spotlight on the cruelty and apparent love that the syndrome manifests itself. In Sharp Objects, care, consideration and truth are as one, and the end result is uncomfortable, but insightful and required viewing.
Ian D. Hall