Obsession review: Netflix’s new erotic thriller is 50 shades of steamy silliness

In it, a married surgeon named William, played by Richard Armitage (Thorin Oakenshield himself), lays eyes on his son’s soon-to-be fiancé for the first time. She’s Anna, a slight young woman with a red bob of hair, played by Charlie Murphy. As they exchange glances from across the room, over a sea of people, we’re meant to feel their instant chemistry. When Anna walks over to him, we’re meant to feel William’s heart skip a beat. And when she whispers sweet nothing into his ear, and he splutters back, there shouldn’t be a doubt in our minds that she’s got him, hook, line, and sinker. All this happens in a few seconds, but this scene is pivotal. Because if you aren’t able to surrender yourself to what the show is trying to communicate — the fact that William has practically surrendered himself to Anna in their first meeting — you probably aren’t going to take a single thing that follows seriously.

And boy does the show want to be taken seriously. Based on the novel Damage by Josephine Hart, and directed by Glenn Leyburn and Lisa Barros D’Sa, Obsession is an overwrought melodrama that always seems to be playing a game of Russian roulette with tone. One false move could prove fatal, and it is entirely possibly that for a certain section of the audience, the show comes across as unintentionally hilarious. In certain scenes, Armitage and Murphy appear to be implementing lessons they’ve learnt after spending a semester at the Sara Ali Khan school of acting. Armitage, in particular, seems to constantly be giving ‘tum mujhe tang karne lage ho’ vibes.

But the show is so snappily paced that it actively demands that you don’t focus on the characters’ internal conflicts. In fact, it’s fascinating how utterly unmotivated their actions are. William isn’t in an unhappy marriage; instead, he seems to be living quite the ideal life. He’s successful and well-respected at work, he’s a loving husband, and an attentive father. When his son Jay tells him about Anna, he behaves as a parent normally would. Why she hits on him in the first place is completely confusing, as is the ease with which he’s drawn to her. 

Of course, we’re supposed to believe that she has that sort of effect on men. But Murphy doesn’t exude the sort of raw sensuousness that, say, a Monica Bellucci or Salma Hayek do. Nor is she as enigmatic as Angelina Jolie or Sharon Stone. But the fault isn’t Murphy’s; the writing doesn’t give her much to work with. This becomes clear in the later episodes, when Anna transforms into a considerably more interesting character, thanks to a well-timed introduction of a dramatic backstory.

The filmmaking is consistently classy, and even though the the show often gives the impression that it is unfolding via an extended montage, Leyburn and D’Sa’s compositions are static and the individual scenes are shot in a rather unhurried manner. And to the show’s credit, it isn’t squeamish about pushing the boundaries of tone either. You have to admire the sheer courage of a completely bonkers scene set in a Paris hotel room, in which William, let’s say, makes the most of me time. You’ll know it when you see it. As with every other moment of intimacy on the show, the scene is more effective on a psychological level than on a physical one.

Obsession is ostensibly a four-part miniseries, but it could easily have been a film instead. Each episode is only between 30 and 40 minutes long, which means that like sex scenes in films and TV, it’s over before you know it, but not entirely dissatisfying.

Obsession
Directors – Glenn Leyburn, Lisa Barros D’Sa
Cast – Richard Armitage, Charlie Murphy, Indira Varma, Rish Shah
Rating – 3/5