After watching all four (4) episodes I can say without a doubt that Frances McDormand is in a class of her own. Mrs. Shullivan and I have seen Frances McDormand in various roles and she invariably stands out from her co-stars as you believe she is exactly the type of character she is playing.
In this mini-series made for TV by HBO, I was yelling at Richard Jenkins to leave this witch of a woman, which is what some of the children were calling her, a witch. Olive is a high school teacher by trade. Richard Jenkins who plays Henry Kitteridge a Pharmacists who owns his own pharmacy is brimming with kindness and empathy, whereas his miserable wife Olive, has no filter and says whatever she feels like to whomever she wants to insult.
We learn from watching this mini series that Olive's father blew his own head off, and although Olive does not want to broach the subject of her fathers own suicide it weighs heavily on her mind. Olive and Henry have one son named Christopher, who does not get away with anything at the stern hand of his mother Olive. You can sense the tension around the Kitteridge's evening dinner meals.
Olive only shows a remote sense of human feeling of empathy when in the presence of a neighborhood boy she teaches named Kevin Coulson (Cory Michael Smith) whose own mother suffers from a mental illness. On a few occasions you can sense that Olive's own son envies the care and attention his own mother provides to this neighborhood disturbed boy named Kevin, than she does towards her own son Christopher.
There is a great cast on screen including the always impressive Bill Murray whose short appearances on screen are always captivating. It does not take a Psychiatrist to recognize that Olive suffers from depression to which she takes out much of her frustration on both her husband Henry, and her son Christopher, simply because their family dynamics does not include a lot of visitors to their home.
This is not a warm, touchy, feely romance/comedy type of TV mini-series. Quite the contrary this series tackles suicide and depression with meticulous care and caution through the eyes and mouth of Olive Kitteridge and Frances McDormand's demons were all front row and present for her audience to witness.
This series won 29 awards not for its entertainment value but more for the significant and delicate way the mini-series discussed and handled depression and suicide within a family unit as well as the surrounding small town community in Maine.
I give it a decent 7 out of 10 IMDB rating.
In this mini-series made for TV by HBO, I was yelling at Richard Jenkins to leave this witch of a woman, which is what some of the children were calling her, a witch. Olive is a high school teacher by trade. Richard Jenkins who plays Henry Kitteridge a Pharmacists who owns his own pharmacy is brimming with kindness and empathy, whereas his miserable wife Olive, has no filter and says whatever she feels like to whomever she wants to insult.
We learn from watching this mini series that Olive's father blew his own head off, and although Olive does not want to broach the subject of her fathers own suicide it weighs heavily on her mind. Olive and Henry have one son named Christopher, who does not get away with anything at the stern hand of his mother Olive. You can sense the tension around the Kitteridge's evening dinner meals.
Olive only shows a remote sense of human feeling of empathy when in the presence of a neighborhood boy she teaches named Kevin Coulson (Cory Michael Smith) whose own mother suffers from a mental illness. On a few occasions you can sense that Olive's own son envies the care and attention his own mother provides to this neighborhood disturbed boy named Kevin, than she does towards her own son Christopher.
There is a great cast on screen including the always impressive Bill Murray whose short appearances on screen are always captivating. It does not take a Psychiatrist to recognize that Olive suffers from depression to which she takes out much of her frustration on both her husband Henry, and her son Christopher, simply because their family dynamics does not include a lot of visitors to their home.
This is not a warm, touchy, feely romance/comedy type of TV mini-series. Quite the contrary this series tackles suicide and depression with meticulous care and caution through the eyes and mouth of Olive Kitteridge and Frances McDormand's demons were all front row and present for her audience to witness.
This series won 29 awards not for its entertainment value but more for the significant and delicate way the mini-series discussed and handled depression and suicide within a family unit as well as the surrounding small town community in Maine.
I give it a decent 7 out of 10 IMDB rating.