Tell Me You Love Me
Based upon the pilot episode of HBO’s latest original series, I definitely want to keep up with the rest of the season. Tell Me You Love Me follows the intimate relationships of three couples in various stages of their lives together, connected – eventually – by the same therapist. As such, there’s a sizable focus on sex and its related issues, and the sexual explicitness has encompassed most of the conversation about the show up until now. After reading various reviews and viewer comments, I was expecting much more than what primarily amounted to fleeting glances of genitals. Of course, I’ve seen the likes of 9 Songs which revolves around the gimmick of telling the story of a couple entirely through music and real sex scenes. I suspect the people who were made uncomfortable by this first segment of Tell Me You Love Me would be absolutely flabbergasted by what the camera shows and lingers upon in 9 Songs. I won’t even mention Shortbus… Anyway, where 9 Songs largely failed, I think the sex scenes may actually work here to illustrate something substantive about the relationships being explored. I’ll have to see more of the series to really get a feel for how it’s approached though.
Anyway, the show is going to live or die by the performances, and fortunately for it, the actors deliver. For the actors, it must be a treat to be trusted so much and given the room to work. This show isn’t rushed. It’s filled with silences between characters and internal moments. Wisely, the show lacks a score, so there are no cheesy cues to indicate to the audience how they should be feeling at any given moment. Everything we need is seen on the faces of the actors. I found it so engaging, in fact, that when some music popped up for the final montage segment, I found it incredibly obtrusive and ham-fisted. It breaks up the perceived rawness and intimacy of the voyeuristic experience, serving more to divorce ourselves from what we’re seeing.
I’d also chime in and say that it’s great to see Tim DeKay back on television. I’ll never forgive HBO for canning Carnivàle, but at least it seems like he’ll get to flex his chops in long-form television again.
I don’t feel like picking apart the plot at this point. It seems silly after one episode, and the show’s foundation isn’t even completely set yet. Still, I was definitely engaged by the first hour, and I think it’s well worth checking out.
