SummaryThe five-episode limited series based on the novels by Edward St. Aubyn spans several decades of Patrick Melrose's (Benedict Cumberbatch) life that included physical abuse from his father (Hugo Weaving), a mother (Jennifer Jason Leigh) who did nothing to stop it, alcoholism, heroin addiction, recovery, marriage, and fatherhood.
SummaryThe five-episode limited series based on the novels by Edward St. Aubyn spans several decades of Patrick Melrose's (Benedict Cumberbatch) life that included physical abuse from his father (Hugo Weaving), a mother (Jennifer Jason Leigh) who did nothing to stop it, alcoholism, heroin addiction, recovery, marriage, and fatherhood.
To be honest, it’s also not the easiest viewing experience, especially if you lack awareness of the depths to which Cumberbatch and St. Aubyn push Patrick. Watching Cumberbatch race through so many character shades proves dizzying in that first hour. But in return, subsequent episodes allow the viewer to appreciate his periods of steadiness and calm. ... Nicholls makes optimal use of St. Aubyn’s silvery language throughout the script. Edward Berger’s direction and James Friend’s cinematography ensure the visual experience speaks as loudly and purposefully as the people in Patrick’s world.
Turns out, Camberbatch and company have done quite well. ... Patrick Melrose gives you the star at his Cumberbatchiest, while also exposing an audience that might otherwise never know them to the superlative St. Aubyn books.
Drug addiction is notoriously hard to film in a way that conveys both its terrors and its allure. In the first episode, PATRICK MELROSE fails badly, substituting OTT histrionics for the desperate, surreal rhythms of addiction. I almost stopped watching after a couple lines of cocaine turned crawling-on-the-floor Patrick into a fast-motion Oscar Wilde, but I'm very glad I didn't because the rest of the series is flat-out brilliant, so good that I can take points off for the first episode and still award a "10" for the series.
Most of the time, TV treats child abuse in a really simplistic way. It happens, it's terrible, but the hero cop or doctor or lawyer puts a stop to it, punishes the perpetrator, rescues the child, and we all feel better. TV doesn't usually plumb the depth of that trauma or explore how it continues to deform the lives of the victims--and the lives of the people around them. PATRICK MELROSE does, and it does so with scorching honesty, wit, and deep (but unsentimental) compassion. Moving back and forth in time, each episode reveals another dimension of this brilliant, damaged man, and it's in that revelation, not the scenery-chewing at the beginning, that Cumberbatch really shines.
The series might sound grim and earnest, but it's not. It helps that Patrick is very funny, but the primary momentum comes from the mystery at the heart of the series: what, exactly, did the members of this family do to each other? The writing, acting, and (especially) the directing are so skilled that I really cared about the answer--and about whether Patrick would be trapped by his history or able to wrench at least part of himself free. Probably the best series I have watched this year.
Remarkable, decades-traversing new miniseries ... [Patrick Melrose] is a soulful, careening tale told with both novelistic sweep and deeply personal emotion.
Patrick's life may be in shambles, but the series manages to assemble its disparate pieces into something deeply beautiful. It might just be powerful enough for Cumberbatch's notoriously spirited fan base to forget all about Sherlock and Strange. Maybe.
Perhaps in its final hours, Patrick Melrose can grind out a few relevant points regarding the entitled characters it loves and skewers; the class system is clearly on the mind ofDavid Nicholls, the writer who adapted Edward St. Aubyn’s novels for the screen, yet a specific statement has yet to emerge. A limited series can’t only be about one man’s performance, even if the actor does his part to earn the responsibility.
None of these episodes are bad, but they lack the magic trick that is St. Aubyn’s prose, replacing the books’ singular mix of high style and bleak substance with the energetic familiarities of genre.
"Patrick Melrose" is an actor’s showcase, and Benedict Cumberbatch is brilliant. The show is a one of the best new series of 2018 and each episode is a story within itself. Excellent writing and superb acting by everyone in the cast.
Genius. Cumberbatch continues to dominate our screens with his unique ability to play clever, complex characters who render us paradoxically awed, yet sympathetic.
Every aspect of this series is a triumph; the cinematography, music, screen play and supporting cast are excellent. Particular kudos to Sebastian Maltz for his performance as the child Patrick.
It is mind-boggling how this show gets virtually every aspect of heroin addiction so completely and laughably wrong. It's like whoever wrote it was thinking to himself "Well, as a kid I ate too much candy a couple of times and then I got a sugar-high, so I guess I can already totally relate to what a heroin addict is going through and therefore I won't have to do any additional research whatsoever." And I'm not being hyperbolic, this is the worst, most unrealistic and nonsensical depiction of a junkie I have ever seen, period.
Too much scenery chewing with Cumberbatch yet again. Couldn't get pass that performance to give it another chance. One hour felt like a lifetime. Hard pass.