In her new HBO drama, Tell Me You Love Me creator Cynthia Mort (Roseanne) puts a not-so-comfortable finger on the dark side of love, marriage, and family rearing in the 21st century. She's timely, as there's certainly something nasty in the air — a general questioning as to whether coupling is inevitably dissatisfying, from Showtime's bitter Californication to Judd Apatow's bitterer Knocked Up. Tell Me is a frank, scathing, and genuine addition to the malaisionship genre.
The world of Tell Me You Love Me is chemically out of whack: Girls are getting their periods at age 10, thanks to estrogen in food and plastics. Couples are having trouble procreating, in part due to a ''worldwide sperm crisis,'' as a lab tech explains. Anxiety and disappointment and exhaustion float in the air like a wind-borne virus, eating away at once-happy couples. Sex and booze can sometimes help. The series follows several couples, all connected through a sexagenarian therapist (Tony winner Jane Alexander). Diligent parents Katie (Profiler's Ally Walker) and Dave (Carnivŕle's Tim DeKay) haven't had sex in over a year; Carolyn (Lost's Sonya Walger) and Palek (Adam Scott) are having tons of sex, most of it weighed down by their struggle to get pregnant. Twentysomething Jaime (Michelle Borth) has great sex with her fiancé — but the two don't mesh when standing upright. (Of the three story lines, this is the least compelling: It feels too much like any postcollege, navel-gazing chronicle.) As one might guess, Tell Me contains a lot of sex scenes, a few actually sexy, a lot wonderfully unsexy: smashed breasts and pubic hair and weird noises. It all feels perfectly natural, and sort of Euro-beautiful — the camera work is intimate, the light is pale, the season is autumnal, there are endless amounts of boiled wool sweaters. And there are flashes of nudity everywhere as characters talk while getting dressed or undressed, or, in the case of Walger's Carolyn, sitting on the toilet, peeing on yet another plastic stick, hoping for the plus sign.
Mort, who wrote six of the 10 episodes, absolutely pinpoints marital decay. Sometimes it's with a simple turned shoulder or a chaste kiss. Sometimes it's with a passive-aggressive exchange involving a new suit, and sometimes it's with spiraling, nonsensical arguments over school supplies. Tell Me's only flaw is, in fact, that these couples mostly argue — they're in ruts, they love each other but can't stop their destructive role-playing, they've lost their sense of humor. This is, of course, the point: Like drugs, they return to the same arguments again and again, aggressively screwing or not screwing as a cure. Tell Me is an incisive drama, but it's not an easy commitment.
Just caught this show last night. The horrible irony is that the only reason I ended up watching it was because H and I ended up having yet another sexless night, and with no kids at home. I really liked the show. The M couple that haven't had sex in almost a year...ugh, that was painful to watch. I liked her line "This isn't who I wan't to be." That's how I feel. Plus watching the young couple have sex all the time made me think, "LFL, you've never had that R with H. Quit dreaming." And it's so true. The whole thing was just one big depress-fest. But I'll watch it again next week.
LFL, I don't know if I'll watch it...I can't commit,lol. It's hard to watch these issues being played out, but it was interesting at the same time. The part I liked best is the mature ( as in age-wise) therapist having intimacy with her H. Kinda sweet.
I'm a big fan of Curb Your Enthusiasm which comes on right after this show, so I ended up tuning in ( it couldn't be because of the porn factor, lol). I am intrigued by the married couple with kids...what's with the H? And will the W break through on her sexual journey? I find myself identifying with her.
My W's comment: "The men will watch this because of the sex, and the women will watch it because of the relationship stuff."
An interesting comment... words that are seemingly in opposition to her actions (the part about women). Which do you think are closer to the true MrsHD - her words or her actions? If this comment is a projection of sorts, then it would contradict her actions.
I'm not sure what you mean. To me, this is congruous with her belief system: that men are driven by the visual (the portrayal of the sex act), and that women, being more complex creatures, are drawn by the more esoteric interplay of the characters.
I was going to debate this point with her, but, just then, I saw some boobies on the TV and momentarily lost my train of thought and the ability to speak coherently. They were really nice boobies, by the way. They belonged to the woman who has not been able to get pregnant by her husband. They live in the most awesome house and had sex in the bedroom while her mother and some friends had dinner in the same house. Did I mention her breasts? They were quite awesome. Perhaps the most awesome aspect of them was that they were up on the TV screen in my house and my wife was sitting next to me.
MsHdog said that she thought the actresses breasts were artificial because they were TOO perfect (as if!) and I at least retained the ability to form the following words in what I thought was a quite sincere way: "You may think they're too perfect, but yours are better." I think I even looked her in the eye when I said this, but I'm not willing to wager money on that.
But, back to the general discussion of the show, beyond the discussion of La Mucho Perfecto Pecho, I like the relationship stuff too. Although I could have done without the old lady's simulated fellatio on her hubby. I know, I know, but it just kind of skeeves me out...like mom and dad sex or something.
Hairdog, who provides daily proof that some men never grow up
I'm not sure what you mean. To me, this is congruous with her belief system: that men are driven by the visual (the portrayal of the sex act), and that women, being more complex creatures, are drawn by the more esoteric interplay of the characters.
Yeah, this is what most women believe, including your wife and mine. But when it comes to actions, both our wives seem to diverge from what they say. This is one of the things I've pointed out to my wife, that she is not consistent between her words and her action.
One way she seems to bridge this inconsistency is she separates herself from other women. She will say that of course intimacy is what any woman would want. But when I ask her what SHE wants, I do not get such a straight answer. So I was wondering if MrsHD also believes what she said, until it applies to her.
