One Night

I highly recommend watching "One Night." 6 parts. Stellar casting. Amazing cinematography of the Illawarra region including my favourite road. And an incredible storyline. I binge watched it over two nights. It is that good. Did I mention the cast? Already a fan of so many but this is next level acting. Jodie Whittaker. (Dr Who! Enough said) Yael Stone. (Orange Is The New Black) Nicole da Silva. (Wentworth) Plus supports who are usually leads themselves. Noni Hazlehurst. Tina Bursill. Best thing I've watched in a long time. The only reason that it didn't get 10 stars is that it dragged a little at one point.

It is so incredibly wonderful to watch stories of womens' lives told by women. Over the past few years I look for these shows. It makes me realise how profoundly accustomed we were to watching stories about women as imagined by men. Another thing I noticed was that the reviews for these shows are filled with men saying how unrealistic the characters are, and how crazy the female characters are. It's so refreshing not to be limited by those points of view, to see ourselves represented in tv drama.

This is the second thing I've watched this week showing women living with a constant threat of intimidation. I grew up as a teenager in the 70's. We had a good life, lots of freedom, but I've been thinking lately about how it was natural for us to have to be so very careful. I sometimes talk to my sister about the ways we had to act and talk and adjust ourselves to stay safe. I'm beginning to notice how much we adapted how we are in the world, and every show like this that I see shifts that dynamic.

This series is so beautifully written, directed, acted. Early on I worried about the pacing, but then a few more threads got woven in and I worried how it could all be resolved in 6 episodes. I used to live a few kilometres from where this is set, just down the road a bit. It is stunning country, and thats obvious in the scenery in this series. Makes me wonder why more tv hasn't been made in the area. The steep bluffs, the ocean, the small villages dotted along the coast, the sea cliff bridge, all create such an atmospheric background.

A couple of things that stuck out for me. All the women were very natural, hair messy, skin blemishes. The older women - the grandmothers - had sun damage, as you do living in that climate. The accents were all excellent. None of the characters were perfect, they all had their flaws which was part of the complexity of the drama. But in the end they managed to come to terms with themselves and each other. There was a lot of very positive messaging without being in any way preachy.

I watched this in 2 sittings and absolutely loved it.

My Review - One Night Streaming on Paramount My Rating 8/10

After watching a number of series like One Night and The Lost Flowers of Alice Hart depicting domestic violence and sexual assaults on women by male perpetrators I long for another show like Ted Lasso or Poldark to convince me that not all men are sexual predators.

Saying that One Night is a fine example of Australian cinema storytelling I really had only two small criticisms and they were not about the performances of the actors but more about the little things that make a movie or series excellent rather than very good.

Mikaela Binns-Rorke who gave a very convincing performance as young Tess however she bared no resemblance whatsoever to Jodie Whittaker who is superb as the adult Tess . Perhaps the reason is because we don't have the great pool of actors that overseas productions have to choose from but when the drama of the series centres around the traumatic experiences of Tess and her two teenage girl friends 20 years previously the younger characters should I think be easy to identify Bridgette Armstrong resembled the adult Simone as did Bella Ridgway who played young Hat resembled the adult Hat .

One Night is the story of three women whose bond is all but destroyed when Simone anonymously publishes an unauthorised novel recalling the terror of that one night.

The traumatic events of one night 20 years previously comes back to haunt Tess beautifully played by Jodie Whittaker who has returned home to Sydney from living in the U. K for years with her wife Vicki and their two children Harper and Jude.

Nicole da Silva is also very impressive as Simone the author of the book that causes so much drama she seeks solace in alcohol which is a complete contrast to Tess who has remained sober since the trauma of that fateful night .

Yael Stone who plays Hat the third friend involved is an interesting character who holds the key to much of this story.

There are some fine male performers also in one night especially the two Calley brothers Trevor played by Errol Shand and Joey played by George Mason.

The only other small criticism I had that irritated me was Noni Hazlehurst's thick overdone Scottish accent her character Mary the unkempt vulgar local pub owner had lived in Australia for over 30 years with her two equally unpleasant sons Joey and Trevor so surely I thought that she would have lost some of her broad accent but no she sounded like she just stepped out of the Edinburg Tattoo.

Emily Ballou and Fiona Seres have created a disturbing,interesting and entertaining story which is impressively directed by Lisa Matthews and Catherine Millar and if this production from Easy Tiger Productions and Motive Pictures is an indication of an increase in Australian movie and television content on our streaming services I think we are in for some quality productions.

The scenery is beautiful and the actors put their soul into the roles but the overall effect somehow doesn't connect. I don't understand how anyone can have PTSD of a event which they have no memory of, and its never explained in the series. The whole premise is of 3 friends who had a bad experience one night , one of them getting raped when she was unconscious and leaving the town after that. They meet 20 years after and have to relive the events in their mind and life as one of them Simone chooses to publish a book about it.

The younger versions certainly seem to have bonding but I could see no genuine connection between them as adults. And Simone keeps saying it's also her story, no its not because she is the only one who is not in trouble because of the book or the night. Try as hard as I might , I could not empathize with Jodie Whittaker's adult character because the younger version is shown bold and doesn't even have memory of the event.

Frankly "Hat" is the only character whose concerns seemed genuine.

And then there is this token Asian character who is a weasel trying to garner publicity at the expense of the anonymity of the writer.

This is probably one of my favorite series of all time, aptly addressing the issues of complicated female friendships, perceptions over time, and of course the prevalent issue of sexual assault and how it can impact you. Very intense, kept me wanting to keep watching each episode despite the late hour. All three leads were amazing, but Jodie Whittaker in that "one scene" where her expressions perfectly conveyed her emotional responses to what she was "listening to" ( I wont spoil it for you) just broke me.

All the characters are complex, as we are in real life, each trying their best to navigate their way after a traumatic night that robbed them of their youthful openness and joy about life.