Review of the series "The Girlfriend"

On September 10, Prime Video simultaneously released all 6 episodes of the psychological thriller The Girlfriend, based on the novel of the same name by Michelle Francis, which appeared on bookstore shelves in 2017. The on-screen confrontation was played out between Robin Wright and Olivia Cooke, who played the roles of Laurie Davidson’s mother and girlfriend, respectively. How interesting it is to watch this conflict, which is more fundamental than ever, is described in the review below.

Pluses:

the presence of exciting moments; the acting performances of Olivia Cooke and especially Robin Wright; the scenes of the main characters together;

Minuses:

the presence of boring moments; questionable scenario decisions; perhaps you are not the target audience of such content;

6/10

Rating
ITC.ua

“The Girlfriend”

Genre psychological thriller
Directors Robin Wright, Andrea Harkin
Starring Robin Wright, Olivia Cooke, Laurie Davidson, Walid Zuiter, Anna Chancellor, Francesca Corney, Shalom Brun-Franklin, Karen Henthorne, Leo Suter, Tanya Moody
Premiere Prime Video
Year of release 2025
Website IMDb

Many of us who have tied the knot have gone through that awkward moment when it comes time to introduce our significant other to our parents. This is exactly what happened in the life of Daniel Sanderson, a medical student from a wealthy London family, who brought home his passion, a spectacular cobbit with the berry name Cherry Lane. But from the very beginning, her friendship with her boyfriend’s overbearing mother, the artist Laura, who cannot imagine her life without her beloved son by her side, somehow did not work out.

Over time, Laura and Cherry’s mutual hostility takes on ominous proportions and escalates into a real war, in which each is ready to resort to cunning, manipulation, and banal deception to gain a winning position. Against the backdrop of this irreconcilable conflict between two predators, the misunderstanding between Robert De Niro and Ben Stiller in Meet the Parents (2000) seems like childish babble.

These words will be confirmed by the first frames of the series, which, although they do not reveal all the details and intrigues (and there will be many, many of them), make it clear that everything will end in a massacre. However, we still have to live to see it, and to do so, the viewer will have to immerse themselves in the Sandersons’ luxurious lifestyle and the unhealthy relationship between Laura and Daniel, which is always suggestive of the Jocasta complex.

It’s not difficult to guess that the plot is driven by two crazy girls, while the male characters perform a purely nominal function — let’s not label people and call the fragile Daniel a mammy, just note that he focused on the mental development of a 7-year-old schoolboy. Given this introduction, the viewer should understand whether he or she is the target audience for female passions of this kind — it’s not for nothing according to Rotten Tomatoes the majority of reviewers of The Girlfriend were women.

The narrative is supported by a general glossiness and an eloquent pop soundtrack, typical of, say, adaptations of unpretentious reading like Fifty Shades of Grey (2016).

A distinctive feature of the story is the fact that, following the example of the original source, it is told from both Laura’s and Cherry’s points of view, so the same situations look completely different according to the heroines. The problem with the local Rashomon effect is that it is difficult for the viewer to choose a side, because none of the ladies deserves our sympathy (or, on the contrary, they seem to do so in some moments, to convince us that any manifestations of empathy are false). In short, the viewer is also being manipulated here.

For its genre and the direction it takes, The Girlfriend seems like a decent piece of nonsense — the stakes are rising, women are going crazy and harming each other more and more.

Not that it is a great pleasure to watch these vicissitudes (nor is it a small pleasure to appreciate Laura’s art exhibition, whose paintings can be described as a “sausage fest,” if you know what I mean), unless one says that there is a complete game on the screen. But by using standard techniques, the creators partially, moderately manage to keep the attention. The aforementioned increase in the stakes and, as a result, the tension in the frame, the obligatory cliffhangers, and the different points of view do not allow you to get bored.

Olivia Cooke, who had to wear flashy outfits all the time, and especially Robin Wright did a great job — in the most heated moments, the electrification of the air around them reaches its peak, and you literally wait for this or that rival to make a move this time.

At the same time, Ms. Wright also directed half of the episodes herself, but this is not a new function for her, given her experience in directing House of Cards (2013—2018) or Ozark (2017—2022). There’s not much else to say about the other characters, as the story is so focused on the bad girls.

The ending can be treated differently, depending on your personal perception. But by that time, the on-screen confrontation has managed to annoy not only everyone else in the frame, but also the viewer at the screen — stop this ridiculous tug-of-war, you crazy people! Sometimes it’s enough to just let go and let the hated opponent fall clumsily to the ground.

Conclusion:

"The Girlfriend" is definitely not a must-see and can be safely skipped. But it's hard to call the project a failure either, as it's a quite competent show in its niche.