When you hear the word ‘love’ you feel about warmth, hugs, kisses and relationships, whereas, when you hear the word ‘anarchy’ connect it with revolution, lawlessness, rebellion etc. Even though it seems like the two words, Love and Anarchy, don’t go together, it is the perfect title for the new Netflix series.
Love and Anarchy begins with the routine of a normal family getting ready for work and school. A strong looking dad and a working dutiful mother and all that changes in two minutes when the mother starts masturbating in the bathroom. That is where the show begins to rebel by not showing a mother who is only worried about her family but also keeps in mind her own sexual needs.
After that we see that she is serious about her work and after she is forced to go on lunch with the IT guy, she starts enjoying the adrenaline rush that she can feel in her veins. They both start to play a problematic fun game where they constantly keep challenging each other. This is the central idea of the show from where they represent love and anarchy grow together.
These two people not only play games but also start growing as person while exploring new things which eventually makes them fall in love. But even though they are the main characters, the writers have shown the life of other characters and how they are also affected by this game.
The characters from time to time raise serious issues around feminism, demerits of technology, capitalism and difficult relationships. But they never get too serious or give unnecessary speeches of love and respect. They have limited it to personal conversations which makes it more relatable. This also explains the reason that you are hooked to the story because no scene or conversation is dragged in the series. It was the right decision to make it a series of 8 episodes only.
The actors have done a brilliant job and you can totally distinguish one character from the other. Each of them have some special qualities and their behavior is also explained along the way. The direction is kept simple and you can see the director’s talent in a dream sequence shown in the second last episode. The art direction seems to be convenient according to the script. From time to time the main lead Ida Engvoll will seem to you like a Swedish version of Margot Robbie.
Although it talks about a lot of things that seems progressive, the show has no take on cheating. They have just shown the life of the characters and has neither declared the cheating wrong nor right, although they have shown the husband (Johan) as a toxic and controlling man because of which his wife (Sophie) cannot be herself. If we imagine the whole series by keeping the husband in the position of the wife then it will be a story of a bad and selfish husband and no one would love to see that.
But even if these thoughts cross your mind, you will still be rooting for Sophie and Max love story. This is the beauty of the show that makes you emotionally connected to the characters. While seeing the trailer you might feel that this is going to be like every other rom coms you have seen before. But in reality it proves you wrong.
Even in few simple scenes, it gets unpredictable and you find it more and more interesting with each episode. Somehow you will also feel comfortable with your body because the actors don’t shy away to present themselves nude or in regular people clothes instead of something fancy and designer. If you get a day free, you should definitely watch this show because it is light hearted and is very well written. Maybe it will also inspire you to read few books or even write one.
It is currently streaming on Netflix.
I give it 3.5/5 stars.
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