The trailer calls this arrangement “forbidden,” but that’s not exactly right Connell himself admits later that if his secret had gotten out, no one would have cared much. Once the two acknowledge their mutual attraction, Connell suggests they keep their trysts a secret, never admitting to either Marianne or himself that he fears the judgment of his friends, who harass her in school. When the series begins, Connell is a popular athlete, while Marianne is a sharp-tongued social outcast. Over many years and several iterations, Connell and Marianne defy easy categorization. (Another teen touchstone, artfully rendered: the sensitive jock who reads books!) On the screen, by necessity, the relationship is more physical-often shockingly so, considering the characters’ ages when they first start sleeping together. On the page, the connection between Marianne and Connell is largely intellectual, two kindred spirits who bring out each other’s depth. But the project’s new collaborators-directors Lenny Abrahamson ( Room) and Hettie Macdonald ( Howards End) stars Daisy Edgar-Jones ( Gentleman Jack) and Paul Mescal, in a remarkable screen debut-put their own stamp on the material.
Normal People’s fidelity to its source material can be partly attributed to Rooney’s continued involvement she splits script credits with fellow writers Alice Birch and Mark O’Rowe. It’s Twilight for people who are too cynical to get swept away by the bland naiveté of stories like Twilight. They’re two specific people from specific circumstances that both draw them together and keep them from fully realizing their bond. Connell and Marianne aren’t generic young people in love. The TV adaptation of Normal People, a 12-episode coproduction between streaming service Hulu and the BBC, is faithful to the novel in many ways, but especially in tone: not unsentimental, but authentic to the nuances and contradictions of sentiment.
Normal People takes place over a tumultuous half-decade for its central pair, transforming them from confused kids to still-confused, slightly older kids. Conversations With Friends has its heroines get up close and personal with a slightly older couple they admire, allowing them to observe the 30-somethings’ foibles firsthand.
In fact, Rooney’s books are often about characters acquiring that perspective through experience. (Both Normal People, her sophomore effort, and 2017 debut Conversations With Friends follow students at Trinity, Rooney’s alma mater.) She’s also distant enough from her teenage years to refract that intensity through the perspective of time and maturity. At just 29 years old, literary wunderkind Sally Rooney is young enough to remember and channel the intensity of adolescent emotion. How They Made It: The TV Adaptation of ‘Normal People’īut while Normal People may be about teens, it’s distinctly for adults.
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