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Mr Loverman (BBC1)
What a brilliant topic, Mr. Loverman. Barrington's domineering wife, Carmel, is convinced that he is “having his way with the stray cows.”
Barrington (Lenny James) has many flaws. He is a heavy drinker who never goes out without rum in his jacket and is an unscrupulous charmer who promises anything to anyone in exchange for a quiet life.
But he was not a womanizer. “I've never slept with any woman except you,” he tells Carmel sincerely.
Because Barrington is not Mr. Loverman. . . He is Mr. Love-A-Man.
His lifelong best friend, Morris (Arion Bagare), is also his soulmate. And at 74, Barry is ready to stop living the lie, as long as he's not too afraid of his wife, friends and daughter Maxine.
Lenny James stars in tender BBC queer romance Mr Loverman
Based on the Booker Prize-winning novel by Bernardine Evaristo, Mr. Loverman is a dark comedy full of bitterness and heartbreak.
Lenny James gives an extraordinary performance, with his hair dyed white and his walk determined not to give away his age. It is equally exceptional in the flashbacks in which young Barry and Morris hide their sexuality after escaping the extreme and violent homophobia of the Caribbean island of Antigua, where they grew up.
And in last week's premiere, he's endearingly convincing as a drunk who comes down from an all-nighter: first cheerfully, then wearily, then clumsily, stumbling into a fight with Carmel (Sharon D. Clarke). ) ended in silence and disgust after she slapped him.
Based on the Booker Prize-winning novel by Bernardine Evaristo, Mr. Loverman is a wicked comedy full of bitterness and pain. If the characters weren't so believable, these conflicting moods could destroy the story, but Barry deliberately fuels them.
Barry and Morris hide their sexuality after escaping the intense and violent homophobia of Antigua, the Caribbean island where they grew up.
Every time life threatens to get difficult, he scoffs. When people ask for more than he can bear, he forces them to drink.
Morris insisted, amid nervous whispers across the table in a south London cafe, that they were both gay. I'm parasexual.'
As Morris leaves, slamming the door, Barry reassures the other customers: “He really wanted to close that door, didn't he?”
Director Hong Gao's decision to split the adaptation into half-hour episodes seems strange at first, but makes more sense as we discover how Barry's double life has affected the people he loves.
A 30-minute episode takes us into Morris's lonely world and reveals in a heartbreaking scene how his wife Odette (Suzette Llewellyn) discovers the truth about the two men. Morris had lost everything: his marriage, his house, his children. Barry wasn't prepared to make the sacrifice. But little by little it becomes clear that he has lost it anyway.
In another episode, Carmel returns to Antigua without him, convinced that Barry never loved her (she thinks so) and that she is not as attractive as the other girls.
Mr. Loverman makes us long for all the characters. But no matter how wide Barry smiles, it's too late for a happy ending.
