Helen M Jerome reviews

Distributed by
HBO Home Entertainment

Cert:

Cat.no: 1000122266

Running time: 1290 minutes

Released: February 2010

Region(s): 2, PAL

Sound: Dolby Digital 5.1

Languages: English, Danish, Dutch, Finnish, French, Greek, Hebrew, Norwegian, Swedish

Subtitles: English

Widescreen: 1.78:1

16:9-Enhanced: Yes

Macrovision: Yes

Disc Format: 9*DVD 9

Price: £44.99

Extras: None

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Directors:

Rodrigo Garcia, Paris Barclay, Melanie Mayron, Chris Misiano (Based on Hagai Levi's Israeli series BeTipul)

Producers:

Richard Marvin, Avi Bellelirade Ramos, Walter Salles, Daniela Thomas and Rebecca Yeldham

Writers:

Braulio Mantovani, Daniela Thomas and George Moura

Executive Producer:

Mark Wahlberg, Rodrigo Garcia, Stephen Levinson, Hagai Levi, Noa Tishby, Warren Leight

Music:

Richard Marvin, Avi Belleli

Cast:

Paul: Gabriel Byrne
Gina: Dianne Wiest
Laura: Melissa George
Alex: Blair Underwood
Sophie: Mia Wasikowska
Jake: Josh Charles
Amy: Embeth Davidtz
Kate: Michelle Forbes

Just when you thought your life was sufficiently full of dvd boxsets comes In Treatment.,

You’ve probably already got The Sopranos and The Wire, maybe West Wing and Mad Men too. And this one has to be next on your list. As if the whole idea of a boxset wasn’t addictive enough, the very concept of this series completely and utterly demands the viewer is pulled into its self-contained world. For each 25-minute episode is a self-contained session with a shrink, so you can watch the different patients across each week, or perhaps follow a particular character from week to week, jumping from disc to disc across their sessions. And the viewer feels they’re right there on the couch, eavesdropping on a pivotal point in each patient’s life, and left wanting more. Luckily there is more – much more, as this is a nine-disc set containing 43 episodes.

Psychotherapist Paul, a model of unnerving control, calm and empathy, broken by shards of aggression, is played by the hugely-underrated Irish actor Gabriel Byrne. Day after day Paul encourages patients to spill their guts out in his comfortable home. He listens, makes the odd observation, and coolly and gradually analyses their hang-ups. And meanwhile his own personal life is unravelling and he’s in need of his own session.

Each of the patients is a mix of paranoia, denial and self-deception in varying quantities. Laura is an anaesthesiologist who cannot commit to her boyfriend, and has become fixated on Paul himself, which brings added complications. As her therapist, he cannot reciprocate, despite her pleadings, and their sessions contain silent reaction shots and huge pauses you could drive a truck through – yet somehow it works.

Alex is a navy pilot who bombed a school in Iraq and killed 16 boys in a previous mission, yet says he feels no remorse. Arrogant, almost cocky, at the beginning, he goes on the offensive with Paul, verbally sparring with him to avoid giving too much of himself away. But once he comes back for further sessions, you just know he’s going to share…

As for troubled teenage gymnast Sophie, damaged in body and soul, the temptation for the viewer is to jump to the same conclusions as Paul. Sophie is suspicious of him from the outset, hostile and neglected as she’s caught between her estranged parents and her gym coach. But has she hurt herself as a quick cry for help or to reveal much deeper traumas and abuse?

The fourth regular session is with a married couple, Jake and Amy, who are almost worth a series of their own. Their different body language, speech rhythms, and attitude to therapy make it hard to believe they’re a good match. And they put the spotlight right back on Paul when they ask him whether Amy should have an abortion – virtually letting him play God. Is their relationship worth saving or is it festering, with the lines of communication down – mirroring Paul’s own marriage to Kate (the always excellent Michelle Forbes)?

With patients like these, perhaps it’s no surprise that Paul feels compelled to seek out his old therapist, Gina, who he hasn’t seen for ten years. Which in turn reminds boxset veterans of Tony Soprano’s shrink often turning to her own therapist. Gina is superbly realised by Dianne Wiest (another underrated actor), and is a great foil for Paul’s anger and angst.

Don’t think it’s all doom and gloom and heavy issues though. There’s humour and light and shade even in the depths of each compelling session.

The bad news is that once you start watching each ‘act’ of each person’s series of sessions, you’ll want to keep going. The good news is that it’s incredibly rewarding, and you’ll learn more about the depths and subtleties of their lives. This is a modern, grown-up classic that’s already been heaped with awards, and I can hardly wait for Season Two.

It feels churlish to complain – what with 43 episodes in this set, but there are precisely zero extras included. And I’d really like to know more about the original Israeli series that this was adapted from; how the story arcs are devised; what the actors think and how their character types evolve; even the way it’s filmed in such a tightly-controlled set. But maybe there’ll be more in the next boxset… (hint, hint)

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OVERALL

Review copyright © Helen M Jerome, 2010.

DVDs reviewed by the editor are watched on a Panasonic TXW32R4 32" widescreen TV connected to either a Creative Dxr2 DVD-ROM player or Microsoft Xbox and played through a Sony STR-DB930 amplifier.

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