One Day
Posted: February 15th, 2024, 9:28 pm
I greatly enjoyed the original book, One Day, by David Nicholls, and rather less so the film with Ann Hathaway, but this new Netflix series has received sparkling reviews, so I was really looking forward to watching the first episode last night.
Unfortunately, despite the rave reviews and my high expectations I have to say I was disappointed.
Although Ambika Mod may be a good actress she didn’t seem a credible interpretation of the character of Emma. Apart from the fact that she played her as a rather chippy and unpleasant woman Emma was clearly a white woman, and I therefore felt I was being manipulated by having her played by an Indian actress, and made to feel guilty by noticing that she was Indian. Colour-blind casting can work well, but less so when one already has a fairly fixed image of what a character looks like, as in this case. I found that it was a distraction from the narrative.
I was also surprised by the fulsome praise of the critics for her “perfect” Yorkshire accent – she sounded to me as though she was from Birmingham, not Leeds. However, as the reviews were all written by people in London or the US I suppose to them one UK regional accent sounds much the same as another! But it's a bit depressing that there are apparently no actresses with natural Yorkshire accents that could have been cast in the role.
I also felt there was no genuine attraction or chemistry between the two characters, so that it was difficult to imagine them having a relationship in real life.
I’m obviously in a small minority, and I’ll carry on watching it for the time being, in the hope that it might improve, but I’m not holding my breath.
Unfortunately, despite the rave reviews and my high expectations I have to say I was disappointed.
Although Ambika Mod may be a good actress she didn’t seem a credible interpretation of the character of Emma. Apart from the fact that she played her as a rather chippy and unpleasant woman Emma was clearly a white woman, and I therefore felt I was being manipulated by having her played by an Indian actress, and made to feel guilty by noticing that she was Indian. Colour-blind casting can work well, but less so when one already has a fairly fixed image of what a character looks like, as in this case. I found that it was a distraction from the narrative.
I was also surprised by the fulsome praise of the critics for her “perfect” Yorkshire accent – she sounded to me as though she was from Birmingham, not Leeds. However, as the reviews were all written by people in London or the US I suppose to them one UK regional accent sounds much the same as another! But it's a bit depressing that there are apparently no actresses with natural Yorkshire accents that could have been cast in the role.
I also felt there was no genuine attraction or chemistry between the two characters, so that it was difficult to imagine them having a relationship in real life.
I’m obviously in a small minority, and I’ll carry on watching it for the time being, in the hope that it might improve, but I’m not holding my breath.