Hulu’s latest original is creating a lot of buzz, and for good reason. Riding on the tail of success of Normal People, the BBC set out to adapt Sally Rooney’s debut novel, Conversations with Friends. This twelve-part miniseries follows 21-year-old college student, Frances (Alison Oliver), as she and her best friend, Bobbi (Sasha Lane), find themselves befriending an acclaimed writer, Melissa (Jemima Kirke) and a stage actor, Nick (Joe Alwyn). The show documents the conversations these four people do, and do not, have as their lives become entangled.
Personally, I was really looking forward to this adaptation. I read Conversations with Friends a few months ago, and it is easily one of my favorite reads this year. I wasn’t entirely sure what to expect, though, because the team behind Normal People also worked on Conversations with Friends, and I never finished watching the former because I found myself growing sadder for those characters with every episode. I did hold out hope for this one, mainly because I loved the book, and I am so glad I did.
The Acting
The acting in this show is phenomenal. Alison Oliver does a fantastic job of bringing Frances to life, with all of her introverted awkwardness, and her tendency to misread situations. It is genuinely hard to believe, at times, that this is Oliver’s debuting role. When I originally read the novel, I definitely saw parts of myself in Frances’ internal monologue, but in the show I really saw myself in how she interacts with others. Joe Alwyn plays Oliver’s romantic counterpart, and he brings a sympathetic side to Nick that I had never seen before. I was not a fan of Nick’s character in the book; I found him to be a bit predatory with his interest in Frances, but Alwyn makes him much more likable. With that,there’s a relatability with how Nick and Frances’ introverted tendencies juxtapose the extroverted confidence of Bobbi and Melissa. Sasha Lane makes Bobbi so much more charismatic than I ever imagined her to be in the book. And, much like Alwyn, Jemima Kirke makes Melissa much more agreeable, despite serving as the show’s antagonist. The chemistry among the four actors is terrific, and it makes one wonder what it was like to interact with the actors on set.
The Cinematography
Each scene is beautifully shot with filters that range from gray to more warm tones, which adds to the conflicting moods of the show. The audio is also very quiet, much like Normal People. There are times when I feel like a fly on the wall, listening to these private conversations that the characters have. The soundtrack is also killer, with songs by WILLOW, Mitski, and even an original song by Phoebe Bridgers.
Suffice to say, this show is very well made; lots of thought was put into it, and it really does a fantastic job of bringing Sally Rooney’s novel to life. I enjoyed every minute of the messy situations these characters found themselves in. It made me laugh, it made me emotional at times, and it gave me a new perspective of this story. I found myself sympathizing with Bobbi and Nick, characters I did not have any positive feelings towards when I initially read the novel. I also understood Melissa’s perspective more, and through the TV show’s wider perspective of the main cast of characters, I realized there was more to each of them than what is presented in Rooney’s novel. While there were some slight changes made; for example, conversations that happened over email took place over text messages, and a trip to France became scenic Croatia in the show, I think the showrunners did an excellent job translating Rooney’s modern classic to screen. The adaptation keeps the central message of the book at its core: sometimes the hardest conversations we have are not with the people around us, but with ourselves.
Conversations with Friends is currently streaming on Hulu.