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DVDfever.co.uk – In Treatment Season 1 DVD reviewHelen M Jerome reviews
HBO Home Entertainment
- Cert:
- Cat.no: 1000122266
- Running time: 1290 minutes
- Released: February 2010
- Region(s): 2, PAL
- Sound: Dolby Digital 5.1
- Languages: English, Danish, Dutch, Finnish, French, Greek, Hebrew, Norwegian, Swedish
- Subtitles: English
- Widescreen: 1.78:1
- 16:9-Enhanced: Yes
- Macrovision: Yes
- Disc Format: 9*DVD 9
- Price: £44.99
- Extras: None
- Vote and comment on this DVD: View Comments
Directors:
- Rodrigo Garcia, Paris Barclay, Melanie Mayron, Chris Misiano
(Based on Hagai Levi’s Israeli series BeTipul)
Producers:
- Richard Marvin, Avi Bellelirade Ramos, Walter Salles, Daniela Thomas and Rebecca Yeldham
Writers:
- Braulio Mantovani, Daniela Thomas and George Moura
Executive Producer:
- Mark Wahlberg, Rodrigo Garcia, Stephen Levinson, Hagai Levi, Noa Tishby, Warren Leight
Music:
- Richard Marvin, Avi Belleli
Cast:
- Paul: Gabriel Byrne
Gina: Dianne Wiest
Laura: Melissa George
Alex: Blair Underwood
Sophie: Mia Wasikowska
Jake: Josh Charles
Amy: Embeth Davidtz
Kate: Michelle Forbes
Just when you thought your life was sufficiently full of dvd boxsets comes In Treatment.,
Youve probably already got The Sopranos and The Wire, maybe West Wing and Mad Men too. And this one has to be next on your list. As if the whole idea of a boxset wasnt addictive enough, the very concept of this series completely and utterly demands the viewer is pulled into its self-contained world. For each 25-minute episode is a self-contained session with a shrink, so you can watch the different patients across each week, or perhaps follow a particular character from week to week, jumping from disc to disc across their sessions. And the viewer feels theyre right there on the couch, eavesdropping on a pivotal point in each patients life, and left wanting more. Luckily there is more much more, as this is a nine-disc set containing 43 episodes.
Psychotherapist Paul, a model of unnerving control, calm and empathy, broken by shards of aggression, is played by the hugely-underrated Irish actor Gabriel Byrne. Day after day Paul encourages patients to spill their guts out in his comfortable home. He listens, makes the odd observation, and coolly and gradually analyses their hang-ups. And meanwhile his own personal life is unravelling and hes in need of his own session.
Each of the patients is a mix of paranoia, denial and self-deception in varying quantities. Laura is an anaesthesiologist who cannot commit to her boyfriend, and has become fixated on Paul himself, which brings added complications. As her therapist, he cannot reciprocate, despite her pleadings, and their sessions contain silent reaction shots and huge pauses you could drive a truck through yet somehow it works.
Alex is a navy pilot who bombed a school in Iraq and killed 16 boys in a previous mission, yet says he feels no remorse. Arrogant, almost cocky, at the beginning, he goes on the offensive with Paul, verbally sparring with him to avoid giving too much of himself away. But once he comes back for further sessions, you just know hes going to share
As for troubled teenage gymnast Sophie, damaged in body and soul, the temptation for the viewer is to jump to the same conclusions as Paul. Sophie is suspicious of him from the outset, hostile and neglected as shes caught between her estranged parents and her gym coach. But has she hurt herself as a quick cry for help or to reveal much deeper traumas and abuse?
The fourth regular session is with a married couple, Jake and Amy, who are almost worth a series of their own. Their different body language, speech rhythms, and attitude to therapy make it hard to believe theyre a good match. And they put the spotlight right back on Paul when they ask him whether Amy should have an abortion virtually letting him play God. Is their relationship worth saving or is it festering, with the lines of communication down mirroring Pauls own marriage to Kate (the always excellent Michelle Forbes)?
With patients like these, perhaps its no surprise that Paul feels compelled to seek out his old therapist, Gina, who he hasnt seen for ten years. Which in turn reminds boxset veterans of Tony Sopranos shrink often turning to her own therapist. Gina is superbly realised by Dianne Wiest (another underrated actor), and is a great foil for Pauls anger and angst.
Dont think its all doom and gloom and heavy issues though. Theres humour and light and shade even in the depths of each compelling session.
The bad news is that once you start watching each act of each persons series of sessions, youll want to keep going. The good news is that its incredibly rewarding, and youll learn more about the depths and subtleties of their lives. This is a modern, grown-up classic thats already been heaped with awards, and I can hardly wait for Season Two.
It feels churlish to complain what with 43 episodes in this set, but there are precisely zero extras included. And Id really like to know more about the original Israeli series that this was adapted from; how the story arcs are devised; what the actors think and how their character types evolve; even the way its filmed in such a tightly-controlled set. But maybe therell be more in the next boxset (hint, hint)
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Reviewer of movies, videogames and music since 1994. Aortic valve operation survivor from the same year. Running DVDfever.co.uk since 2000. Nobel Peace Prize winner 2021.