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Apple TV+’s series “Lady in the Lake” opens with a striking monologue that gives us a glimpse of Cleopatra Johnson, a character who we discover is dead. As Cleopatra “Cleo” Johnson (Moses Ingram) narrates, a man throws her into a lake where her body sinks into the blurry waters. Through her intense voiceover, it is clear that while her body is lifeless, Cleo’s spirit is very much present and will hunt the live characters in her story, especially those whose actions contributed to her ending. One of such characters is the other main protagonist of the show Maddie Schwartz (Natalie Portman). Cleo shares with Maddie her view that “you came in at the end of my story” that paints a picture to suggest that she is not happy with how her tale is shaped. Rather, it feels like she has been used as a stepping stone to craft another narrative.
The series picks inspiration from Laura Lippman’s 2019 novel, which was first published in Baltimore. Lippman’s book draws from two different murders that Lippman experienced in her youth. The limited series zooms into the life of a Jewish housewife, Maddie, whose mundane life turns upside down with the mysterious disappearance of a peculiar young girl.
While she is a passionate writer, her efforts lean towards becoming a well-known public figure. Thus, she exploits the mystery revolving around the girl’s disappearance. It could be that she feels a lot more tied to this missing girl’s story than she wishes to accept. On the other side of Baltimore, Cleo Johnson is someone that Maddie first sees in a department store window. The girl appears stuck in a doll-like pose; dressed to the nines, her eyes fixed ahead and surrounded by through glass. This way of depicting her in this beginning scene is a foreshadow of how Cleo will constantly be seen by Maddie throughout the series – unmoving and a perfect tool for her own self-advancement. Although this is the only scene in which they interact directly, over the voiceover it is suggested that somehow they will be pulled into each other’s orbit. In a very uncomfortable way, Maddie’s attempts and findings in the gentrified Black neighborhood reveal a great deal of Cleo’s last days, and the last days of their correspondence will be quite similar to those of Maddie’s.
Their backgrounds are unique, but their experiences and lives seem to overlap. Maddie’s existence as a housewife shatters quite rapidly – in the first episode of the show and the world Cleo attempts to construct for herself and her children is simply unput together by forces beyond her reach. Cleo goes on to become a housewife in Baltimore, while Maddie tries to gain some control over her life by moving out of the suburbs and into a black neighborhood. While their stories could be deemed as ‘too contrasting’, the series makes an attempt at it. Director Alma Har’el seems to have struck the right balance, so it does not feel too difficult to digest.
Cleo is often heard narrating the story at hand. However after the first episode she takes on a larger role this is meaningful as she does tend to ramble a lot. Portman and Ingram spend roughly equal amounts of time on screen, and the show is so much better for it. It’s a name fit for a character that is portrayed by Ingram, whose embodiment of the role is a wonderful shock. And the name, ‘Cleopatra,’ does hold a certain weight. You feel like a star being born with every tear that streaks across her face and every broken sentence that emerges from behind her sealed lips.
It’s clear from the beginning that Har’el and her camera, are grateful that she’s in the scene. She alone makes the series worthwhile because her screen time is the most interesting part of the show.
The camera captures the other actors and set pieces beautifully as well. While there tends to be an abundance of club scenes throughout “Lady in the Lake,” there is one particularly notable episode that has gotten a lot of praise. Cleo begins to lose her mind doped up in a club after witnessing something she should’ve never laid eyes on. Ingram takes episode 3 and steals the show by throwing her body into the floor, blaring like a demon, stomping her feet until it drowns out the singer on stage. Har’el captures people dancing as if they are at church during the sermon realizing this connection between dance and freedom.
This is why “Lady in the Lake” is magic, when all the tendrils that weave the plot together are jettisoned for strong powerful sequences that show off the music supervisors and actors on screen. And it just keeps getting better.
Although the pilot is quite lackluster. Har’el and the cast and crew crank it up a notch with every episode, until it becomes one of the most captivating limited series in the post “Big Little Lies” world. In a streaming environment where this series is constant, a lot is needed for them to stand out. Luckily, it feels as if all the people involved in the making of this project put in their effort nd the result is captivating.
“Lady in the Lake” seems to be an adaption done right. While the cutting of the two stories together does not always blend as seamlessly as it needs to, in truth, both Maddie and Cleo’s lives are impossible to not be intrigued by. The darkness that Har’el leans into gives this series some edge that the genre is desperately starving for and allows the story to blossom into something entirely new. It feels like the audience has been left clueless as to what direction the show is headed to. When the audience thinks they grasp where the story is going, we get the rug ripped from under our feet along with the show’s characters. Mikey madison reciting a haunting monologue from one of Anaïs Nin’s diaries while we see glimpses of Maddie’s fractured teenage memoirs.
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