"Fleishman is in Trouble"
Mar. 2nd, 2023 03:43 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
sasha_featherWatched:
"Fleishman is in Trouble" on Hulu. 8 episode drama.
I wouldn't have watched this if I wasn't sick and bored. I enjoyed it, it was fine, but I don't know that I would recommend it to people generally. It's a close portrait of a hetero divorce which is not something I can relate to, but the writing and acting were good, and what is relatable is the sense of grief and disorientation the characters experience. The two main characters are Dr. Toby Fleishman (Jesse Eisenberg) and his wife Rachel (Claire Daines). Toby's friend, a writer, is telling the story. At first the narrator focuses on Toby, but then eventually we get Rachel's side of the story. Rachel went through some harrowing things and did not really feel safe enough in the world despite being this outwardly successful and together person.
I found the ending a little unsatisfying because I wanted more of Rachel's story. I think when you show, on screen, some of the awful things she went through, then there ought to be more resolution and processing of those things. It seemed like the point of the story would be that Toby and Rachel both had legitimate points of view, that they are both complicated people worthy of listening to, but the narrative itself gives so much more time to Toby, which seems to reify some of the gender and privilege themes that the narrative claims to be questioning.
Things I liked: Toby being a competent and loving parent; pretty shots of New York city in the summer; the literary quality of an author telling a story; Jewish characters; good acting.
Content notes: Assault by a doctor and birth trauma; mental illness; cheating; spinning camera effect used egregiously. The story focuses mostly on white, rich, cis het people living in NYC and New Jersey.
"Fleishman is in Trouble" on Hulu. 8 episode drama.
I wouldn't have watched this if I wasn't sick and bored. I enjoyed it, it was fine, but I don't know that I would recommend it to people generally. It's a close portrait of a hetero divorce which is not something I can relate to, but the writing and acting were good, and what is relatable is the sense of grief and disorientation the characters experience. The two main characters are Dr. Toby Fleishman (Jesse Eisenberg) and his wife Rachel (Claire Daines). Toby's friend, a writer, is telling the story. At first the narrator focuses on Toby, but then eventually we get Rachel's side of the story. Rachel went through some harrowing things and did not really feel safe enough in the world despite being this outwardly successful and together person.
I found the ending a little unsatisfying because I wanted more of Rachel's story. I think when you show, on screen, some of the awful things she went through, then there ought to be more resolution and processing of those things. It seemed like the point of the story would be that Toby and Rachel both had legitimate points of view, that they are both complicated people worthy of listening to, but the narrative itself gives so much more time to Toby, which seems to reify some of the gender and privilege themes that the narrative claims to be questioning.
Things I liked: Toby being a competent and loving parent; pretty shots of New York city in the summer; the literary quality of an author telling a story; Jewish characters; good acting.
Content notes: Assault by a doctor and birth trauma; mental illness; cheating; spinning camera effect used egregiously. The story focuses mostly on white, rich, cis het people living in NYC and New Jersey.
no subject
Date: 2023-03-02 04:35 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2023-03-03 05:56 am (UTC)Conspiracy theory #4590
Date: 2023-03-05 09:52 pm (UTC)Jesse Eisenberg brings likability to all his roles. I didn't like it much here. I loathed it in The Social Network, which I believe helped US policymakers give FB even more of a pass.
Claire Danes is outstanding at conveying life at the edge between competence and trauma. I don't want her to have so many roles like that!
Have you seen "My So-Called Life"?
Re: Conspiracy theory #4590
Date: 2023-03-05 10:41 pm (UTC)I haven't seen my so-called life and I don't think I'm interested; I have perhaps reached high school story saturation.
Re: Conspiracy theory #4590
Date: 2023-03-06 12:56 am (UTC)I feel you. It may just be the best high school story.
Wilson Cruz is transcendent. It was so delicious to see his proudly queer teen self. But Danes spends altogether too much time and energy pining after fucking Jarod Leto.
no subject
Date: 2023-03-02 08:29 pm (UTC)I really appreciate that you include this sort of thing in your reviews, because seriously.
no subject
Date: 2023-03-03 05:54 am (UTC)