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I Am Maria concludes the return of the Channel 4 “I Am” drama, this time starring Lesley Manville.
This time round, Ms Manville plays Maria, a woman in advanced years who’s having a birthday. We’re not privy to how many candles will be in the cake, but we can see how the lust has gone out of the marriage between her and husband John (Michael Gould), who gives an adverse reaction to her starting to jump on him because it’s spontaneous and unplanned, and he “doesn’t want a dirty fuck“.
Taking stock of her life, Maria is regretful of things she hasn’t done in her life, now she’s in her twilight years and feels time is slipping by. In addition, she’s getting a bit of ‘Empty Nest’ syndrome, as the children have all left the family home.
In fact, feels less like a drama and more like an episode of Butterflies after the kids have begun to furrow their own path, Maria is basically – as the Colin Hay (Men At Work) song goes (below) – waiting for her real life to begin.
Since I obviously won’t say how things pan out, they take a reasonable step towards getting interesting, but not hugely.
In fact, the whole of this second series has felt like there was potential in each episode, but it was largely untapped every time.
I Am Maria is on Channel 4 on Thursday August 19th at 9pm. After broadcast, it will be on All 4.
It is not yet available to pre-order on Blu-ray or DVD.
Score: 5/10
Director: Dominic Savage
Producer: Krishnendu Majumdar
Writer: Dominic Savage
Music: Anthony John
Cast:
Maria: Lesley Manville
John: Michael Gould
Anthony: Gershwyn Eustache Jnr
Andrew: Ziggy Heath
Alice: Ellie James
David: Daryl McCormack
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.