Many things can be said aboutthe idol‘. Some positive and others not so much. What is clear is that the new series of sam levinson (‘Euphoria’) for HBO has arrived surrounded by a lot (a lot) of noise, most of it negative and ranging from all the controversy of the filming and a critic that destroyed it in Cannes.
On the other hand, in an unusual movement, the platform has not provided viewings for the press prior to the premiere either, it gave it a additional (suspicious) aura of mystery around what we were going to find. So there was a lot of curiosity to see what happened with this collaboration between Levinson, Abel Tesfaye (The Weeknd) and Reza Fahim.
With this background, one begins to see this fiction between skepticism and some hope that, as a whole, it leaves a good taste in the mouth. The answer is a bit of a yes but no in which we sail through more than fifty minutes of portrait of a “broken” star (the Jocelyn of an incredible Lily-Rose Depp) and the beginning of a somewhat… unhealthy relationship.
Everything was going well and suddenly… The Weeknd!
This feeling is not strange either because It is not usually easy to enter excessive but aesthetically precise proposals. of Levinson. However, one clearly notices that they have had to rewrite and re-record and the result is a bit of a Frankenstein monster between two series (two tones, rather) different from each other. The first, much more interesting than the second.
It is precisely when The Weeknd appears with his character as Tedros, owner of a nightclub attended by the young Jocelyn, when ‘The Idol’ goes from being an interesting portrait of fame, industry toys (musical in this case) and its use, transformation and “control of the story” to something much more bland and flat.
It is not that the first act of the first episode was much less superficial, but it is exposed, perhaps too clearly, topics with enough substance: there is talk of mental illness and its possible “romanticization”, of fame, of sexuality and exposure of one’s own body, of the person and of the image of the same.
Of course, taking into account everything that is said about the alleged nightmare of filming the series, issues such as the character played by Hank Azaria deciding lock the privacy coordinator in the bathroom from the photo session in which Jocelyn decides to show her breasts have a somewhat twisted and even referential air. One imagines what could have really happened on that shoot.
Jocelyn, the total popstar
Suspicions (unfounded or not) aside, that photo session with which ‘The Idol’ opens is vibrant and fascinatingly handled. masterfully by Lily-Rose Depp, who is capable of captivating the camera and display not only an undoubted talent, but an overflowing sensuality. It is absolutely magnetic and the series works to enhance that.
The pity is that all attempts to interweave layers of the story dissipate as soon as our protagonist meets Tedros. suddenly the series has the simplicity of a story, dark and erotic, of these that you find millions on Wattpad and similar platforms. It is, strangely, almost a fanfiction of himself. A fanfic of Tesfaye himself, whose performance is lousy.
Perhaps it would be unfair to attribute everything bad about ‘The Idol’ to Tesfaye’s presence in it, but the change in tone (and approach) that there is It’s too obvious not to notice. That vast difference between the two protagonists and how they are focused is very detrimental. And I’m not going to get into the erotic components of the series that fall between the awkward, the obscene and the gratuitous.
Rather than speaking in terms of whether ‘The Idol’ is good or bad, I think the word to better define it is frustrating. One notes that there are plenty of interesting elements to make something as striking as deep, as befits the usual HBO offering. Those elements are there. Too bad they don’t take advantage of them.
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