6/10
UK extra-marital affair and court room drama feels strangely all too familiar
18 April 2022
Warning: Spoilers
As Episode 1 of "Anatomy Of a Scandal" (2022 release from the UK, 6 episodes of about 45 min each)) opens, we get to know Sophie Whitehouse. She is at a party somewhere among the British elite. She gets a strange call and leaves for home. There her husband James, a Tory MP and Minister, and a close friend of the Prime Minister, confesses to an affair with an aide but he ended it 2 weeks ago. The immediate question is: why does James confess to the affair, and why confess now? At this point we are 10 min into Episode 1...

Couple of comments: this TV mini-series is directed by veteran British director S. J. Clarkson. Here she transposes Sarah Vaughan's novel of the same title to the screen, looking at an extra-marital affair gone very wrong, and the fallout to the people directly involved or close-by. I must say that the biggest sense I've gotten from seeing the initial 2 episodes is that, on the one hand, this all feels strangely familiar, as if I've seen this before, and yet (ii) this is quite watchable and dare I say, entertaining. One also gets the sense of the enormous privilege of the British elites, almost too much to bear really. The mini-series benefits from Sienna Miller's lead performance (as Sophie), but also benefits from the exquisite photography and set productions, featuring many familiar London spots. Getting a glimpse of the House of Commons at Westminster is probably the best part of all (for me anyway).

"Anatomy of a Scandal" premiered this past weekend on Netflix. I've seen the initial two episodes, and I'm sure I'll make work of the remaining 4 episodes in the days to come. If you are interested in a very British extra-marital affair and court room drama, I'd readily suggest you check this out, and draw your own conclusion.
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