ABSENTIA 1×01: Where cinematography meets tv shows

¡Hi, tvshowphiles! Today we’re here to talk about a very special series: ‘Absentia’, that airs tonight on AXN Spain. Last Thursday, we were invited to see the first episode and make some questions to Patrick Heusinger, one of the stars of the show. To be totally fair, we were all hyped up. All summer we’ve been seeing teasers, trailers and pictures, and the truth is we couldn’t wait to see it. Well: ‘Absentia’ met the expectations and even raised up the bet.

The series tells the story of Emily Byrne (Stana Katic), an agent from the FBI that goes missing while investigating a case and reappears six years later with no memory of what happened. When she comes back home, she finds out that her husband, Nick Durand (Patrick Heusinger “the awesome”), is married to another woman, Alice. And her little boy, Flynn, doesn’t even recognise her. Also, Byrne has been clearly abused during all this time. Her life is upside down, and there’s only one thing she can do to fight what happened to her: finding her kidnapper. Emily is a unique character. She’s very strong and fierce. That said, her abduction took that special kindness she had six years before… Maybe she’ll recover some aspects of her personality, but something’s really clear: she’ll never go back to the way she was.

absentia

One of the things that impressed me already in the pilot, is the complexity of the characters. None of them stands before an easy situation, but every single one of them try their best. Emily is really hurt, and she’s probably the one you empathise the most with: she just wants to go home. Nick is between two women he loves, in different ways, and the only thing he tries to do is not to hurt any of them (or, at least, hurt them as little as he can), which is not always posible. Little Flynn thinks of his stephmother as a real mother, even if that can break Emily’s heart. It’s understandable: he can’t remember her.

The most oustanding of them is, withouth a doubt, Alice Durand. As Patrick himself said during the interview, it’d have been really easy to write her as “the bad guy”. Make her the villain that stole the heroine’s place and that, in a perfect history, would end up leaving. After all, Emily is the main character, so from her point of view, Alice’s the one that shouldn’t be here… Except that she should. Because she’s a well-meaning, sweet woman who loves her family more that anything and takes care of Nick and Flynn all the time. Even of Byrne: she goes our of her way to make her feel comfortable coming to a place that’s no longer her home.

Another of the things that make ‘Absentia’ such a wonder is the performance of Stana Katic. To those who saw her in ‘Castle’ that’s not news: the actess can carry whatever she wants to. But this show makes the most of her talent; we go from maximum tension, to anxiety, to sadness, to rage. There’s no limit: whatever ‘Absentia’ wants you too feel, you’re gonna feel it.

absentia

Actually, all aspects of the show are very polished. The photography, every scene is thought to make you feel something specific. It’s wonderful to see the best of cinema into the small screen, while keeping the length of the TV shows. According to Patrick, one of the reasons why everything is so perfect is the director, Oded Ruskin, who shot all the scenes himself. And withough a doubt, ‘Absentia’ also outstands because of the peculiarity of its scenarios. It was shot in Bulgaria, but the quality doesn’t go any lower than american productions. In my opinión, it gives autenticity and I wouldn’t change that for anything. To me, ‘Absentia’ is pure art.

To sum up: watch ‘Absentia’. Give it a chance to fall in love, because it’s an ‘indie’ production with a charm that not every show has.


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ABSENTIA 1×01: Where cinematography meets tv shows

de Irene Tiempo de lectura: 3 min