I may be one of the last film enthusiasts in the world who doesn’t have a Netflix subscription (too little time!), so it was only by chance (staying for a few days at one of my sons’ house) that I was so in sync with the good fellas and watched the most popular mini-series on the streaming network, the one that everyone is talking about. It’s, of course, ‘Adolescence‘ – a British production created by Stephen Graham and Jack Thorne and directed by Philip Barantini, which in a few days managed not only to reach viewing records but also to generate a huge traffic of reviews, comments. TV fans and people who rarely get in front of the ‘small’ screens, parents and educators, sociologists, psychologists and political scientists gave their opinions. Except … teenagers – they don’t have time for movies about teenagers! The series has given rise to the usual choruses of lamentations about the alleged harmfulness of the Internet and social networks, diatribes about ‘male toxicity’ and ‘communication culture’ with the usual confusions (intentional or not) between medium and content. However, the discussions have missed – for the most part – many of the complex layers of the story that is offered in the four episodes. ‘Adolescence‘ is an interesting and well-made work of art (because yes, a TV series is also a work of art), which contains much more than one or two simplistic messages to illustrate the professional or personal obsessions of commentators who discover Americas long explored by successive generations of teenagers and parents, students and educators, young people in training and the surrounding social environments. In my opinion, ‘Adolescence‘ is not a masterpiece, but rather a well-dosed and executed creation, which raises multiple problems.
The first episode starts as an episode of an action series. A team of police officers equipped and masked as an anti-terrorist commando forcefully enters a house at dawn to arrest a suspected criminal. In a few minutes we learn that it is the home of a banal and normative family, not very wealthy (the father is a plumber) and that the suspect is … 13 years old. The crime he is suspected of is, however, very serious – homicide. The victim – a schoolmate girl. The first episode will follow the initial investigation. The second will continue the investigation in the school where the suspect and the victim studied. In the third one we witness an interrogation – psychological investigation of the teenager. In the final episode we see the effects of the events on the family. Questions constantly arise. Is the teenager guilty? If so, is he aware of the seriousness of his deeds? To what extent are the parents, relatively simple people, separated from their children (the boy has an older sister) due to generational, cultural, and mental differences, to blame. Does the school have any responsibility or even any influence? Are the methods used by the police appropriate? (from traumatic arrest to the use of psychological profilers whose conclusions largely decide the fate of teenagers). Could something like this happen to us? (because many of the scenes from family life or school will be very similar to our own experiences).
The four episodes are each filmed in a single frame, in real time and continuous movement for 50-60 minutes. It is not an innovation, we have seen the technique in films before, but here more than in other cases it seems very justified, giving the viewers the feeling of being close witnesses to everything that is happening. The actors’ interpretation is excellent, which is not surprising for a British series. I will mention only three names: Owen Cooper in the role of the teenager, Stephen Graham (who is also a co-author) in the key role of the father and Erin Doherty – formidable in the role of the ‘evaluating’ psychologist. ‘Adolescence‘ deserves its popularity both because it is written and filmed in such a way that it is watched as a thriller and for the debates it has triggered. The only weak point seemed to me to be in the endings of the episodes and especially that of the final episode. Unlike the courage, originality and openness they showed with the rest, the authors chose quite conventional and especially unnecessary ‘punch-lines’ for the endings. There was no need for conclusions served on a platter. The issues in ‘Adolescence’ do not belong to the era of the Internet only, they are part of a debate that is constantly renewed, with each generation.