AN UNSETTLING PLACE
BIG LITTLE LIES’ MONTEREY IS ANOTHER WORLD
One of the most startling moments in HBO’s Big Little Lies is the announcement by a 16- year- old character named Abigail that she’s auctioning off her virginity on the Internet, with proceeds to be donated to Amnesty International.
Her father, Nathan, is upset but says the family should not jump to judgment. He’s a tolerant guy and they live in the liberal community of Monterey. He’s always open to new ideas. He commends Abigail for her social conscience, rare in someone her age. Still, he finds her fundraising idea unacceptable.
That makes her furious. “A lot of girls lose their virginity for a lot less,” she insists. Then she stomps out.
Monterey ( pop. 30,000), on the Pacific coast, exists in literature as John Steinbeck country. He was born there and some of his most admired books are set in his childhood environment – Tortilla Flat, Cannery Row and East of Eden. Steinbeck peopled his Monterey novels with lovable, gently philosophical folks, many of whom have trouble getting by.
The Monterey in Big Little Lies is another world. Most of the characters are affluent l awyers and high- tech entrepreneurs. They see Monterey as a peaceful refuge from crowded urban life. They came to enjoy gorgeous sunsets over the Pacific and give their children a perfect place to grow. They are progressive Americans, modern in spirit and home decor. They constantly worry about their relationships. They are devoted to their community.
They are also self- important. The amateur community theatre is preparing a musical production that involves puppets. In one scene the puppets have sex. When Monterey’s mayor hears about that, he threatens to kill the whole production. “Puppets f-- king?” he says. “No!” Leading citizens of course treat this controversy as a First Amendment issue. Cracks in friendships become chasms.
There are other conflicts. A little girl complains that a boy in their first-grade class choked her. She says it was the angelic little kid called Ziggy, who says he didn’t do it. That sets parents arguing about his guilt or innocence and Ziggy must be assessed by a child psychologist. We learn that Ziggy was the result of a rape, that his mother has not seen his father since that one event and that she owns a gun in case she ever gets a chance to kill him.
Big Little Lies is in part a satiric picture of a town not nearly as pleasant as it pretends to be. It treats most of its characters with sympathy, though occasionally one of them delivers a biting remark about another – “She grew up wanting to be Betty Grable, I think. Ended up Betty Crocker.” It’s also a mystery (there is a murder) and a dark comedy that takes the audience to unsettling places.
One husband beats and rapes his wife out of fear that she doesn’t love him. Nicole Kidman plays the wife, Celeste, Alexander Skarsgård the husband, Perry. It’s so horrifying because it’s so convincing and it’s so convincing because he throws her around so violently.
The title of the series is supported by the many lies in the script, most notably the lie lived by Kidman as Celeste ( and by extension the horrifying lie lived by Skarsgård’s Perry). She’s a leader among the women of Monterey, envied for her beauty and her passionate marriage. In fact, her so called “love life” is one long and violent nightmare. Talking to a therapist, she says that she and her husband have great sex: “We turn each other on by our rage.” The therapist concludes Perry will kill her eventually and she must move out immediately.
Big Little Lies was made by an impressive cluster of talent. The cast includes, aside from Kidman, Reese Witherspoon, Laura Dern and Zoë Kravitz. All are wonderful. Kidman and Witherspoon also serve as executive producers on the series, and spearheaded the efforts to adapt Liane Moriarty’s 2014 Australian novel of the same name. The script is by David E. Kelley, who played a large part in popular series dramas like Chicago Hope, Boston Legal and L. A. Law. He adapted Big Little Lies to fit an American setting and the characters. The director of all seven episodes is Jean-Marc Vallée of Montreal, most admired for Dallas Buyers Club.
HBO keeps its major productions available for some considerable time after their first showing. My guess is that many viewers will take advantage of that and return to watch this remarkable series again.