“One of the secrets of a happy life is continuous small treats.” - Dame Iris Murdoch
With the baby feeding three times a night, I watch all the things. And when my husband’s away, I need a constant stream of media to anticipate consuming at the end of each day (preferably with a glass of wine and chocolate or gummy candy IN BED because this is how I live now). In these wee hours, I dig deep into the Netflix and Amazon archives. (Scottish series, The Book Group, anyone??? Well, I actually wouldn’t recommend that.)
However, I didn’t have to go too far to find Flowers. Maybe Netflix has improved their algorithm beyond “a strong female lead” to include such key words and phrases as “cozy”, “descent into madness”, “Farrow & Ball”, ”drizzly, dark interiors where people make tea and drink lots of wine”, “chunky wool sweaters”.
This BBC 4 2018 series (both seasons now available on Netflix) includes several of the most perfect moments I have witnessed in recent television history. (Others to note: Transparent S2, Ep10 - the 30 seconds where the siblings have an underwater tea party in the pool, Better Things S2 finale - choreographed dance to Christine & the Queens… man, there are actually a lot…Ladies be killing it.) Olivia Coleman (her highness of all things good and great) and Julian Barratt (the wonderful actor and musician most notably of The Mighty Boosh) star in this comedy drama written, directed, and acted in by Will Sharpe, the Japanese-English wunderkind of the BAFTA set.
It should be stated that this show is not for for everyone… but more on that later.
In Flowers, Barratt and Coleman play the troubled Maurice and Deborah Flowers. They live on a crumbling farmhouse estate that exists somewhere outside of time - there are no cell phones or computers to muddy the dreamscape and jolt you back into present day. The dark interior has walls “held up by books”, as Julian Barratt described it. The richness of the set design is so immersive you can almost smell the tannic Surrey soil as Maurice lumbers from the house to his caravan. Cinematic close-ups of slugs help.
Maurice Flowers is a Roald Dahl-esque, as the Guardian put it, children's book author in an awkward and potentially doomed relationship with his wife. They live with their two failure-to-launch 20-something twins and Maurice’s Japanese illustrator, Shun (played by Will Sharpe). The series begins with Maurice’s attempted suicide. This is an apt introduction to the increasingly unhinged family members and their struggles with mental illness and identity.
Will Sharpe spent the first 8 years of his life in Tokyo and wanted the character of Shun to bring “a sense” of the Japanese humor he grew up with to the show. Sharpe explained in a 2018 BAFTA interview that Shun is “partly a comment, maybe, on the comedic representation of Asians on the Western screen.” Sharpe is open about his own diagnosis of Bipolar 2 disorder and how this influenced the thread of mental illness that weaves its way throughout the plot and its characters.
The first season has moments that are difficult to watch - it is filled with gallows humor and even a little erotic manga. I recommended Flowers to a few friends and was told by one that they couldn’t get past the 3rd episode and they, in fact, “hated Flowers”. Fair enough. You have been warned.
However, if you stick with it you will see a family muddling through their challenges with tenderness and humor. Although the cultural discourse has been improving when it comes to our conversation on mental illness, it remains a confusing topic to discuss, especially with those we love, as the instinct to protect looms large.
“I am of a dark people”, I would say, “we have a tendency towards poetry and booze.” This was my own particular brand of deflection when it came to addressing what, in truth, was periods of depression I had been experiencing since my teens. I am a modern lady with a supportive family! This should not be difficult for me to discuss, yet it was and is. The Flowers family have many problems, but this does not make discussing it and admitting to their demons any easier.
Now, as a parent, I can’t think of anything more terrifying than a child grappling with mental illness. Deborah and Maurice struggle to understand their daughters descent into the depths of a bipolar breakdown. It is frightening and beautiful to watch Amy spiral out of control as she composes her opus (original score by Arthur Sharpe, brother of Will Sharpe and of the band Arthur in Color). Bipolar disorder is historically difficult to diagnose and challenging to treat because of the complex weave of depressed lows and, at times, anxious highs. What I found comforting was the eventual acceptance by Maurice and Deborah - ok so this is happening and with all our failings and frailties we will be able to deal with it because we have to.
I have loved and appreciated recent shows that address mental illness but do not make it the single note of said show. A great example is when Broad City discussed Ilana’s depression in S4 Ep5. Major Depressive Disorder is the leading cause of disability throughout the world, as stated by the Anxiety and Depression Association of America. The National Institute of Mental Health estimates that 2.8% of American adults suffer from bipolar disorder (this is just over 5 million). These are impressive statistics that show how ubiquitous these mental health issues are. Flowers is hilarious, heartbreaking, and prescient in it’s tackling of these themes. As my brother put it best, “Flowers has the character development of a novel, it’s worth sticking with it.”
Sources:
https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2018/jun/08/flowers-mental-health-julian-barratt-channel-4
https://adaa.org/about-adaa/press-room/facts-statistics
https://www.cnn.com/2019/03/21/health/psychiatric-ers-mental-health-partner/index.html
https://www.nami.org/Learn-More/Mental-Health-Conditions/Bipolar-Disorder
https://www.nimh.nih.gov/health/statistics/bipolar-disorder.shtml