It’s THE romantic series of the year on Netflix and it’s worth a watch. We tell you why you have to watch “One Day”, which had already been adapted into a film with Anne Hathaway.
What is it about ?
Emma Morley and Dexter Mayhew meet on their college graduation day, July 15, 1988. They will grow up, get closer and separate, experience joys and sorrows together.
Who is it with?
After the big screen adaptation of Lon Scherfig with Anne Hathaway and Jim Sturgess, the novel A day by David Nicholls is once again transposed, this time into this series. To play the two title roles of Emma and Baxter in One Day, two talents unknown to the general public were chosen.
Thus, Ambika Mod, revealed in the series This Is Going To Hurt, and Leo Woodall, revealed in season 2 of The White Lotus, play a brand new and refreshing version of this essential romantic duo, which deserves even more to be known.
It’s worth checking out ?
Serial remakes of works already adapted into films seem to set the tone for the start of the year on the small screen. After the new (successful!) version of Mr & Mrs Smith, it’s the turn of the bestseller A day by David Nicholls to be brought up to date, thirteen years after the first film adaptation by Lon Scherfig with Anne Hathaway and Jim Sturgess.
Netflix
If this joyful, gripping and melancholy drama had unfortunately gone under the radar when it was released – except for seasoned fans of complex romances – the new Netflix adaptation will be able to shed light on this dazzling romance between Dexter Mayhew and Emma Morley (or Dex and Em for close friends).
Because the story between Dexter and Emma is not a simple insipid joke. After a first meeting on the evening of their university graduation in Edinburgh on July 15, 1988, Dexter and Emma will be forever linked by the vagaries of life and by this symbolic date of Saint-Swithin’s Day.
In British folklore, this particular day, named after Bishop Swithin of Winchester, is an important turning point. Popular belief is that if it rains on St. Swithin’s Day, it will rain for 40 days, but if it is sunny, 40 days of good weather will follow.
And the weather, whether it is good or gloomy, whether it is in the past or the present, is one of the key elements in the story of Dexter and Emma that we will follow for around twenty years, the same day each time.
Netflix
According to their friendship-love, One Day plays with tones and genres by depicting English society over several decades, by recounting the torments, the illusions and the anxieties of a new generation and by taking care of its comedy of manners aspect.
A formula that works even better
With such basic material, the series team had all the cards in hand to transform a rough diamond into a gem. And that’s precisely what this new iteration of Un Jour is.
The serial format was the perfect mode of narration for this extraordinary romance, which can be enjoyed at will either by binge-watching the 14 episodes or by spacing out your viewing sessions.
Each episode tells a year, a tone, a state of mind, a mentality, a joy, a sorrow, an ordeal, a success, a disillusionment for Dexter and Emma and it does it with authenticity, scathing humor and humanity, without ever fall into silliness, vulgarity or darkness.
Eyeing the side of another major serial success – Normal People, to name it – One Day managed to capture the emotional intelligence and storytelling power of its original material and transcend it to the screen, with a attention to precious detail, well-thought-out flashbacks and brilliant temporal connections.
Netflix
This format allows us to give more depth to this couple, even if it repeats exactly the key points of the book and the film, but with more hours to sink our teeth into, we become even more attached to them . And for those who already know the story, the outcome is even more heartbreaking, even when we already know what awaits us.
In addition to its brilliant script, One Day obviously relies on its main duo of actors – Leo Woodall and Ambika Mod, who bring their freshness, their humor, their charm and their sensitivity with such ease and sincerity, that it is difficult to believe that they are only at the very beginning of their career.
Obviously, the supporting roles, also more fleshed out than in the film, are not left out thanks to the refined performances of actors like Essie Davis (Matrix Reloaded, Girl with a Pearl Earring, Nitram), Tim McInnerny (Love at First Sight in Notting Hill, The Serpent), Amber Grappy (The Baby), Jonny Weldon (House of the Dragon) and Eleanor Tomlinson (Poldark, A Glimmer of Hope).
In short, One Day is a successful new adaptation which will take you from laughter to tears, which will offer you a mirror as intense as necessary, and above all which will make you feel more alive than ever to the rhythm of a cleverly chosen soundtrack.
The series One Day is available on Netflix.