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| Left to right: Frances McDormand and Richard Jenkins |
Every now and then, HBO reminds you why they are leagues ahead of other networks. It isn't just in their prestigious legacy that includes The Sopranos, The Wire and Boardwalk Empire. It is also the miniseries that over the course of multiple uninterrupted hours, a story unfolds that is often too personal and heartbreaking. It isn't through a big set piece that captures the moment, but in the loneliness and a performer going for the gusto and reaching new momentous heights of emotional clarity. Over the course of the four episode miniseries Olive Kitteridge, actress Frances McDormand turned in easily one of her career bests as the titular woman who experiences depression and jealousy as she enters the autumn years of her life. The story itself doesn't have a clear plot and instead focuses on themes of emotional change. For that and many other reasons, it may be one of the best things that HBO has released in 2014.
The most striking factor about Olive Kitteridge is that she starts off as a secondary character in her own story. In the first episode entitled "Pharmacy," it focuses on husband and pharmacist Henry (Richard Jenkins) as he helps his employee Denise (Zoe Kazan) overcome a crippling depression. While Denise is pegged as "the mouse" by everyone else, it is the kindness of Henry that grows to be undermined by Olive and most of her family. He is the warmest character and whose trajectory by the final hour is the saddest. Even if Olive evolves into a character that isn't quite a shrew as those first moments when the Kitteridges sit down for dinner with Denise, it begins to show the hostility and undertones that define and exemplify the series. These are complicated characters that need some mending.
Spanning 25 years, there's a lot of impressive moments that are adapted from an audacious story that features a lot of characters living life in the mundane state of Maine. As Olive becomes more central in "Incoming Tide," there becomes a better understanding of why she matters. It is a complex look at a woman fading into obscurity as the world evolves around her. There are those that love her, but she also features a level of insecurity that causes her to fall into emotional traps. She takes gossip too seriously and is ashamed of the homemade dress that she has worn to a wedding. By the final episode "Security," everything is put into a perspective that things will change, but she won't really accept it. At best, she will live out her days contemplating life with a Rush Limbaugh fanatic named Jack (Bill Murray). She has made it too far and seen too much to give up on life so easily.
This all works thanks to a phenomenal performance by McDormand, who has rarely been better. It all comes to fruition in "A Different Road" when she is forced to deal with a cursing robber at a hospital. She is scared, but more concerned with his attitudes. It reflects how she has to play the dominant force in their marriage. It is also the moment in which Henry's health begins to decline and everything changes. Her view of the world grows more cynical and the family that she raised has made her obsolete. As she deals with her son's strange marriage that has left him with two bastardized children. The results aren't pretty and her personal politics become a problem as she cannot accept their lax ways of parenting. It is a stark view of how things have changed in that 25 year span. With her final outburst, culminating in the show's most poignant moment, she displays her stubbornness and vulnerability. To her, the world is over and there's not much point without Henry. Is she right? Kind of.
It also helps that director Lisa Cholodenko is exceptional at the mundane tactics to make these characters pop. Along with a melancholy score by Carter Burwell that relies heavily on piano, the dramatic tension swiftly allows the moments to slide together, painting a portrait of a troubled woman's life. She isn't perfect, but she grows to become sympathetic as the world slips away. Her bitterness and depression also don't help, as they have caused some unfortunate riffs in her life. Olive Kitteridge succeeds because of its look into regret and the fragility of the human condition in a marriage. Despite the compromise, things didn't always work out. In a sense, it is all building to a grand statement of being grateful for what you have. The series doesn't end with Olive reaching happiness, but a level of contentment. It is humbling and despite a rocky life, gives a sense that everything will be all right.
If there's one complaint, it is that things end abruptly. It is the fault of almost all great miniseries, but four hours didn't feel like enough time for these characters to properly unfold. Each episode appropriately wraps up in one hour chunks, bringing a story to a close and opening up for another. These four stories may seem inconsequential to each other, but it builds an impact through the inconsequential, depicting how egos and depression can influence how others perceive things. It is something that feels almost too novelty for a series. With great performances by McDormand, Jenkins and Kazan, this is a story that is almost too tight and leaves room for wanting more. Who knew that the most fascinating depiction of vulnerability on HBO in 2014 would not be on The Leftovers or True Detective. It was on the most unassuming shores of Maine as it washed away before anything could settle in.
Olive Kitteridge is a work of art dissecting emotional states through societal and marital factors in old age. As time goes on and the relevance transfers to a younger soul, what is to be made of those that meant the most to us? It is tragic, beautiful and encapsulates a touchy subject with reverence and simplicity. With a phenomenal, adorable couple at the center who are just as problematic as they are compatible, its views on life are universal. It will be hard, especially with only two months left, for this to be taken down as the grand statement of life beautifully summarized. The only tragedy is that it's only four hours. Still, like the memories that the characters share, the performances will live on and the moments that mattered will only continue to grow as life comes to its final chapters.
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