NHave you ever been so horrified by the words “Sent from an iPhone”? Baby Reindeer is an adaptation of Richard Gadd’s acclaimed one-man play, which tells the story of a man who was stalked by a middle-aged woman named Martha, whom he met in the pub where he worked. . She got his email address and began texting him incessantly, sometimes inconsistently, sometimes not, every night. The email ends with “Sent from an iPhone.” During the show, Gad’s alter ego Donnie Dunn notices that Martha doesn’t have her iPhone. At first, the baby reindeer feels at home in these small cases. However, as Martha’s behavior becomes more obsessive and Donnie’s behavior more self-destructive, the two become trapped in a terrifying downward spiral. It’s a relentlessly dark, self-loathing horror.
This is a true story, and it’s told in a very Netflix-like way at the beginning. Gadd first brought Baby Reindeer to the outskirts of Edinburgh in 2019 as an hour-long play, distilling the story down to its harrowing essence. Martha only exists as an empty barstool, and Gad fleshed her out using multimedia and recordings of messages he left for Martha and those close to her. I saw it that year and was stunned by the palpable horror it left in its wake. The ending was shocking. Those who may have heard of Gad as a stand-up and stopped by to see if he was trying to make them laugh can’t help but feel sorry for him.
But television is not theater. Nor is this Gad giving a speech while sitting in an empty bar chair. There’s a lot more to do over seven episodes. Gadd incorporates some of his previous work, allowing him to expand the story into a larger, more ambitious space. He hasn’t been able to play himself. Donnie is a struggling comedian and writer desperate for success, but enters a contest with a surreal comedy with props that is more of a hit than hit. Jessica Gunning’s commanding performance brings Martha to life. Jessica Gunning expresses everything from pity to heartbreak to ferocious, violent malice, often with barely perceptible adjustments to her facial expressions. It’s not an easy role, but she’s really great at it.
One day, Martha enters Donny’s pub in tears and he offers her tea. This is the first of many terrible decisions that lead him into a world of suffering, but for reasons that become clear later, the issue of vulnerability is disturbing and multi-layered. Donnie is happy that Martha is interested in him and gives her a kind of attention in return. But Martha turns out to be a serial stalker, who police later say is a “serious” person, who becomes obsessed with the man she calls “Baby Reindeer” and invades every corner of his life. I come to do it. .
The baby reindeer is photographed very well. It’s like a horror movie. There are some uncomfortable close-ups. An unsettling angle that just tilted. A disorienting eeriness built into its aesthetic. Sometimes it’s scary, sometimes it’s terrifying. The pressure continues to increase. Gadd hasn’t flattened the play’s moral complexity for television. Instead, he has moved deeper into the gray area. It deals with shame, cruelty, self-hatred, jokes, ego, pity, mental illness, guilt, loneliness, stalking, greed, hard drugs, hope and despair, among many challenging themes. Gad asks an impossible, disturbing question and pins it on the cusp of trauma. Is he getting involved with Martha even though he knows she shouldn’t because he feels sorry for her, or is he doing it because he sees this situation as potential fodder? Is there one? When Martha first appears at his comedy gig, they spar with each other and the audience laps it up. Next time, their interaction isn’t very viewer-friendly. Who is cruel in this situation?
Inevitably, baby reindeer makes for stressful and often painful viewing. The only people laughing when they describe this movie as “yet piercingly funny” are Netflix’s marketers. Throughout the series, the onslaught of pain is difficult to withstand, and even as the pain expands, it blurs into focus. “Sure, it can’t get any worse from here,” Donnie said at one point. That’s right, reader. Ultimately, this makes for frustrating viewing. But it’s also original, compelling, and unforgettable. Episode 4, where we learn more about Donnie’s mental state, is one of the most disturbing and upsetting episodes of him I’ve ever seen on television. I also think it’s very important that what’s being portrayed is portrayed, considered and explored on screen. Please note that it is expected that it will be shaky.
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