Diane
is a new mother who works from home, a high rise in some unnamed American city that she shares with her husband and their baby. Her third-floor flat has three large bay windows, and she can see into an apartment across the street from her home.
For a long time, the curtains are always closed in that apartment, until new neighbours move in and, suddenly, there are no curtains.
The people who move in are a young couple and they do all the things young couples in love do: talk for ages, spend a lot of time together and, of course, have a lot of sex.
Diane’s initial shock and disdain for them (she describes them as a symbol of what she and her husband used to be) turns into curiosity and then a strange kind of obsession. She uses binoculars to watch them and feels like she’s a part of their lives. As disturbing as that might sound, there’s something tender and pure about Diane’s one-sided relationship with her neighbours.
Over two years, she watches them, and then suddenly sees them less and less. Months later, the couple is seen again, but their lives look vastly different to how they did before.
Diane tries to piece together (purely from her imagination) what is happening in their lives because things clearly aren’t how they used to be.
Without spoiling it, the ending hits you like a punch in the gut.
This is the premise of The Living Room, a 2015 episode of the fantastic and always fascinating Radiolab podcast. It’s not fictionalised in any way: it’s simply one woman sharing her experience of “seeing into the life of somebody else”.
Diane describes how she “felt so invested” in the young couple’s lives, and her obsession with their lives rubs off on the listener. It’s a strange thing, listening to a voyeur telling you what they’ve witnessed over time, which as a result makes you a voyeur too.
While the episode is three years old (that’s 300 internet years), it’s still my favourite podcast episode of all time. If you love a good cry, add this to your playlist.