Hulu’s Sally Rooney book adaptation Normal People was my absolute favorite TV show of 2020: a superbly moving, beautifully rendered portrait of young love with all its dizzying ups and downs. So I was excited to hear that Hulu was adapting another Rooney novel, Conversations With Friends, and bringing back Normal People director Lenny Abrahamson and writer Alice Birch to work on it as well. It debuts on Hulu this Sunday — I’ve watched all 12 episodes — but sadly it falls short of the lofty heights of its predecessor. Like the novel it’s based on, Hulu’s Conversations is intriguing at first but ultimately frustrating.
Conversations with Friends Hulu Bobbi Frances
The story revolves around Frances (Alison Oliver) and Bobbi (Sasha Lane), two Dublin college students and ex-lovers who are complete opposites: Bobbi is the talkative, bohemian life of the party, while Frances is thoughtful and reserved. At a poetry reading, Bobbi notices the married author Melissa (Jemima Kirke), and when they start dating, Frances forms a kinship with Melissa’s actor husband, Nick (Joe Alwyn). Their two parallel crushes naturally evolve into something more, threatening the very foundation of a marriage — and a friendship.
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Rooney specializes in creating relatable characters and natural dialogue in her books, and Conversations has the same grounded feel that Normal People had, albeit a little heightened and juicier this time. The conversations are full of subtext, punctuated by many longing looks and meaningful glances. Also, the sex scenes have real heat, as was the case with Normal People; They feel real and intimate in a way we rarely see, leaving participants sweaty and flushed and not entirely photogenic.
The story goes on
Conversations with Friends Hulu Melissa Bobbi
However, the story unfolds along fairly predictable lines: the dizzying onslaught of infidelity followed by nagging guilt and jealousy. A scenic vacation by the sea acts like an emotional pressure cooker, and the early episodes hit upon some messy, complicated truths about love and relationships. But the series meanders a bit after that initial rush, eventually bogging down in narrative pauses and loops. It’s leisurely to the point where it’s sleepy. (All those significant looks don’t actually add up to much meaning.) It’s lifelike, you might say… but that doesn’t mean it’s dramatically satisfying.
It’s also a huge challenge for the actors to take on the stunning work of Normal People stars Paul Mescal and Daisy Edgar-Jones. Oliver has a heavy burden to bear here in her first major role – the camera spends a lot of time on her face – and she carries it well, lending Frances a compelling vulnerability. However, Frances can be difficult to read, making it harder for us to connect with her, and with the show’s narrow focus on her, it all feels a bit claustrophobic. (Frances’ personal life is bleak, with an unreliable alcoholic father and a mysterious health problem.)
Conversations with Friends Hulu Nick Joe Alwyn
Alwyn gives a dashing romantic lead as Nick, but his scenes with Oliver’s Frances fall into a repetitive rut after a while. The story could use more of Bobbi and Melissa to spice things up, but Kirke makes little more than a cameo as Melissa, and Lane’s Bobbi is seriously signed — more of an icon than a fully realized character. Conversations is faithful to Rooney’s prose, as was Normal People, but that means it also suffers from the same flaws. It’s still a notch or two above your average romantic drama, while offering some smart emotional insights, but in the end it’s a fleeting dalliance that fades too quickly.
THE BOTTOM OF THE TVLINE: Hulu’s intriguing but frustrating book adaptation, Conversations With Friends, doesn’t quite reach the heights of ordinary people.
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