The review of Tiny Beautiful Things, the TV series on Disney+ from April 7, 2023, is based on the bestseller by Cheryl Strayed.
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| Image/Disney+ |
Tiny Beautiful Things debuts on Disney+ on April 7, 2023. The miniseries based on the bestseller by Cheryl Strayed follows the story of Clare: a writer who finds herself in a moment of crisis as she becomes a popular journalist, and editor of an advice column. The eight-part television show created by Liz Tigelaar – known for Life Unexpected – and produced by ABC Signature and Hello Sunshine, has us in the cast the American actress Kathryn Marie Hahn in the title role alongside Sarah Pidgeon and Quentin Plaire Tanzyn Crawford; as well as Owen Painter, Merritt Wever, Elizabeth Hinklere and Michaela Watkins as guest stars.
Clare becomes a respected journalist and advice columnist as her life falls apart
In the various flashbacks, we travel back to the life of Clare (her young incarnation is played by Sarah Pidgeon) exploring “Dickensian” Christmas scenes of poverty but happiness with the most sincere affection, together with her mother and brother before being shocked by terrible news. When we meet modern-day Clare, her life is in total disarray: her marriage to Danny is on the rocks, her teenage daughter is keeping her at arm's length, and her once-promising career as a writer is nonexistent.
Thus, when an old friend asks her to replace her to carry on the "Dear Sugar" advice column (because there is always a need to confront and the opinion of at least one other person on all occasions), the protagonist's life unravels in a complex fabric of memories between beauty and childhood memories, but also in the difficulties and humor of his unhealed wounds. By means of "Dear Sugar," she manages to create a sort of balm, a portentous remedy against pain for her readers and for herself, and with the intention of demonstrating that we are neither invincible samurai nor hopeless puppets, and that our stories can – maybe – save us and bring us back home.
The harsh reality that accompanies being a woman in a frustrating and exhausting show
Cheryl Strayed's character works through her trauma as she walks the Pacific Ridge Trail, on a journey of self-discovery that she frees from hard feelings. It seems that in the television adaptation, this healing has been canceled. The protagonist is about to turn fifty, and experiences guilt and pain, moving from a life of drug use and destructive sex to the chaos of the present with her abusive - then absent - father, her mother's struggle, the happy home in the desert, the descent into addiction, the sweet-first-husband repeatedly cheated on.
She abandons her dream of becoming a writer when she becomes pregnant, but an old friend tracks her down... And writing becomes a way to make sense of and come to terms with her troubled and equally chaotic past. In recalled memories, Clare often hovers over the scene or moves back and forth between Pidgeon and Hahn. This simultaneity reflects her mental state which is still a swirling mess of unprocessed trauma.
Director Rachel Lee Goldenberg sets the tone of the memory map which gives the impression of being inside her thoughts of her. Some flashes are fleeting glimpses that help connect the dots, some more dreamlike sometimes reflecting Clare's inebriated state. Maybe it would be nearly impossible for someone to complete an episode without tears in their eyes or down their cheeks. And even so Tiny Beautiful Things, which is supposed to portray a midlife crisis, is really exhausting to watch, despite Hahn's best efforts to bring some of her warmth and humanity into her character. Because it's hard to sympathize with Clare or enthusiastically follow this show.
Tiny Beautiful Things: conclusion and Evaluation
To conclude that Tiny Beautiful Things is a demanding series, but it certainly isn't the right product for you if you want to distract yourself or clear your mind. With modest photography and screenplay, a director's work that opts for discontinuous editing distorts the space and time of the narration and favors scenes full of pathos perceived as too distressing. Only the cast adds value, but it's not enough to lift the fortunes of the show which seems exhausting and difficult to follow until the season finale.