State of the Union: Stunning mini-series by Stephen Frears and Nick Hornby

State of the Union
Stunning mini-series by Stephen Frears and Nick Hornby

In the British mini-comedy series / relationship comedy "State of the Union" (2019), a couple meets in a pub before the weekly couples therapy sessions and talks about their marital problems. Director Stephen Frears (79, "Philomena") staged the miniseries in ten ten-minute chapters based on the novel "Nobody said you should move out: A marriage in ten sessions" by cult author Nick Hornby (63, "About a Boy"), from whose pen the script came.

The British TV format, which has been awarded three Emmys, will be pretty hidden on Sunday (January 31), but will celebrate its free TV premiere in one go from 11:35 p.m. on the first. From February 1, it can be seen in ten episodes in the ARD media library.

This is what "State of the Union" is all about

The married couple Tom (Chris O'Dowd, 41) and Louise (Rosamund Pike, 42) meet once a week during the day for a drink in the pub: he orders beer, she white wine – and then they go to marriage counseling. After Louise cheated, the relationship is on the brink, despite two children. In order to save the marriage, Louise wants to come to terms with what has gone wrong for a long time – starting with the slack in bed, the cause of her infidelity.

Although the attractive 40-year-old regrets her affair, she does not want to leave the visibly injured Tom entirely out of responsibility. But Tom also has his reasons why he stopped all intimate activities at some point. The different interests that were so charming when they got to know each other are now leading to conflicts. Tom, an unemployed music critic, loves classic films, Louise, a busy doctor, likes to be showered by series.

When Tom even admits to having voted for Brexit out of protest, Louise is furious. Could it be that their children and an interest in crossword puzzles are the last things they have in common?

Dream team Nick Hornby and Stephen Frears

The cult author Nick Hornby, born in the southern London suburb of Redhill in 1957, and the Oscar-nominated director Stephen Frears, who was born in the city of Leicester in 1941, are a professional dream team for his Queen Elizabeth biopic "The Queen" (2006). The miniseries "State of the Union" is not their first successful collaboration. The Frears film "High Fidelity" (2000) with John Cusack (54) in the lead role was also based on a Hornby novel. The German film and media evaluation FBW in Wiesbaden awarded the cinema comedy the rating "particularly valuable".

Brilliant leading actors

British actress Rosamund Pike and her Irish colleague Chris O'Dowd are an ideal cast for this chamber play-like series project. You take every single sentence from both of them at every moment. For this, both were awarded Emmys as best actor in a series (short form) – the third prize was in the series category.

Rosamund Pike most recently shone as the leading actress in the biopic "Marie Curie – Elements of Life" (2020). For her roles in "James Bond 007 – Die Another Day" (2002), "Pride and Prejudice" (2005) or "Gone Girl – The Perfect Victim" (2014), she was showered with awards or was nominated . Chris O'Dowd is not yet well known, although successful films and series such as "Gulliver's Travels – Something Big Coming Up" (2010), "Bridal Alarm" (2011), "Girls" (2012-2013) or " Thor – The Dark Kingdom "(2013) can be found in his filmography.

Boring Marital Problems?

Two married couples talk about their marital crisis. That might be bland indeed, but it isn't. The actors are far too good, the dialogues rich and precise. In addition, the problems discussed should not seem entirely unknown to many long-term married couples. "If we had managed to avoid any marital illness, we wouldn't be here now," says Louise at one point.

In addition to the content, the presentation of the chamber play is also convincing. Although the two always meet in the same London pub, order the same thing and then cross the same intersection for therapy, no two attitudes are the same. Rather, it is astonishing how many different perspectives these scenes could be shot from.

sequel follows

All of this calls for a sequel and that was confirmed by SundanceTV two days ago. Behind the camera are again writer Nick Hornby and director Stephen Frears. The unhappy couple in season two are played by Irishman Brendan Gleeson (65, "Harry Potter") and the award-winning US star Patricia Clarkson (61, "The Green Mile"). According to "Deadline", newcomer Esco Jouléy also has a leading role. The series is currently being shot and is scheduled to air later this year on SundanceTV and AMC Networks' streaming service Sundance Now.

In season two, liberal campaigner Ellen (Clarkson) drags her traditional self-made husband Scott (Gleeson) out of his comfort zone and into a hipster café in Connecticut, where they have ten minutes to have a coffee before marriage counseling to gather their thoughts and argue about anything from Quakerism to pronouns. In between, they also discuss the betrayal from their past, how they change as people and what the future of their relationship could look like in a changing world …

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