Us (2020)

A review of the four-part limited series Us.

British novelist David Nicholls adapts his own work and brings a warm and moving portrait of a family in crisis in the four-part miniseries Us.

Connie (Saskia Reeves) wakes up her husband Douglas (Tom Hollander) in the middle of the night to tell him she wants to break up. After the initial shock has passed, the pragmatic Douglas and easy-going Connie decide not to cancel their upcoming three-week trip of a lifetime across Europe but instead have one last hoorah together with their 17-year-old son Albie (Tom Taylor). But there’s one extra layer to this rather simple premise: Douglas intends to change Connie’s mind.

As the trio begin to tour some popular European cities, flashbacks of Douglas and Connie’s relationship play out. Nicholls’s teleplay expertly weaves in the flashbacks on echoed words from the present-day setting, making each scene purposeful and powerful. From these flashbacks, we learn how Douglas and Connie met, when they first said I love you, and other pivotal moments in their relationship.

Nicholls teases only titbits of backstory in the present day. As each episode plays out, revelations are exposed to both character and the audience alike. Sometimes a character reveals a secret unknown to the other characters. Sometimes characters finally expose the full backstory behind previously alluded to events. In both instances, the audience learns about Douglas, Connie and Albie on a similar level to the characters themselves, which is rare and refreshing.

Nicholls doesn’t make his characters compete for our affection. Usually, our loyalties would lie with Douglas as the protagonist, but Nicholls doesn’t depict Connie’s motivations as cruel or malevolent. Instead, Douglas is shown as a flawed character, blighted by his blandness and measured personality which comes off as dull compared to Connie’s freer and more spontaneous nature. It’s clear why Connie wants to leave Douglas, but Nicholls adds enough likeability to Douglas to make the audience root for him regardless of his shortcomings.

Casting is impressive in its believability. Not only are the two leads age-appropriate, but the younger versions of Douglas (Iain De Caestecker) and Connie (Gina Bramhill) are believable lookalikes, and there are momentary glimpses where Tom Taylor looks like a young Tom Hollander.

Tom Hollander’s performance as the critical and banal husband and father leads the series admirably. Saskia Reeves’ is quiet and magnetic as Connie and exudes an effervescent calmness against Hollander’s rigid and stilted Douglas. The pair have strong chemistry for a couple who are in the midst of a breakup.

On the supporting front, Taylor plays the misunderstood teenager well with a hint of mystery and angst. Thaddea Graham adds a spark of life when she appears as Kat, a backpacker Albie hooks up with throughout a few of the cities. The best supporting performance award goes to Sofie Gråbøl as Freja, a recently divorced tourist who meets and forms a quick bond with Douglas. Gråbøl is commanding in her few scenes and brings an understated charm to Freja.

Oli Julian’s score adds an essential gravitas to the series, walking the very fine line between poignant and saccharine (and avoiding the latter). Julian’s evocative score is most effective in the more emotionally charged scenes, enhancing each deftly chosen and well-spoken word of dialogue.

Director Geoffrey Sax orchestrates subtle scenes fuelled with emotion with beautiful European cities in the backdrop. Amsterdam and Barcelona, in particular, look radiant. Ed Rutherford’s picturesque ‘afternoon glow’ cinematography serves Europe up on a platter to an audience desperate for a holiday after the last year of lockdown restrictions.

Chronicling breakdowns in communication between husband and wife, and parent and child are not new fodder for an audience to feast on. But with expert handling, and in the case of Us, life-changing decisions made by a couple with decades of history between them are brutal, raw, sometimes funny and incredibly honest.

Us airs on Binge from 24 February.

Whole series screened for review.