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We all present a variety of faces, some more real and raw than others: in public, in family situations, over drinks with friends, behind closed doors and in our own minds.
You, no doubt, have a different view of me as a columnist than what’s seen by my bosses, friends, family, my husband, my son and, especially, myself.
That’s how it is, I’m willing to bet, with everyone.
For that very reason, HBO’s new limited series “Big Little Lies,” which explores this universal human concept, is so engaging and relatable.
The juicy seven-part drama, about a group of women of different backgrounds and circumstances — and the secrets and fears that exist beneath their facades — starts to unfold at 8 p.m. Sunday.
Another major strength is the series’ star power. Some of the most skilled and likable actresses from the big screen, including seasoned Oscar winners Reese Witherspoon and Nicole Kidman, and one of Hollywood’s fiercest rising stars, Shailene Woodley of the “Divergent” movie franchise, deliver provocative and beautifully nuanced performances as tight friends and devoted mothers.
We also become privy to the less polished — and more pained — individuals they are in the privacy of their homes and inside their heads.
The talent off-camera also is impressive. One of the writers and executive producers of “Lies” is David E. Kelley of “Boston Legal” and “Goliath” fame, who has adapted the series from the bestselling novel by Liane Moriarty.
Witherspoon and Kidman also are series executive producers, and at a press session last month, both characterized “Lies” as an “incredible” portrait of contemporary women and their complicated exterior and interior lives.
“There was just so many aspects of it that were so relatable,” an animated Witherspoon said. “And the really amazing part was actually digging deep.
“It wasn’t about them being good or bad. It’s just that they showed every spectrum, every color of women’s lives. And I thought that was a really unique opportunity to have so many incredible parts for women in one piece of material.”
Kidman agreed. “There’s just such an array of emotions in this piece, and that’s what we were excited to show. We were excited to show the lives of these women in a very authentic way, and, yet, entertaining.”
For lovers of murder mysteries, there also is this hook: Right off the bat, we’re told a homicide has taken place at a trivia night party in the gossipy seaside community of Monterey, California, and we’re led to believe both the victim and perpetrator are among the characters we get to know as each thrilling episode progresses.
Witherspoon seems to have been born to play Madeline Martha MacKenzie, the zippy, twice-married queen bee of a squad of upper middle-class moms of kindergartners.
Her closest friend is Celeste (Kidman), the quieter, wealthier and drop-dead gorgeous mother of twins. She went to law school but, at present, dedicates her energies to her boisterous boys and strapping young husband (Alexander Skarsgård).
As they and an assortment of other parents — some well heeled and wearing superior attitudes, others of middling incomes and less showy wardrobes — drop their kids at orientation, someone new and very different enters their midst: Jane (Woodley), a single mother in her early 20s, whose wallflower demeanor, as we eventually learn, masks a past that has left deep emotional scars.
When her son Ziggy notices Madeline limping on the road after a small fall, he urges Jane to come to the stranger’s aid. When she does, Madeline instantly goes into mama bird mode and takes Jane under her wing.
Their fast friendship eventually triggers a series of increasingly tense incidents that are fueled by an accusation at school: One of the town’s most prominent mothers and careerists, Renata Klein (Laura Dern, “Twin Peaks”), notices rows of red marks on her child Amabella’s neck. After demanding to know the culprit, Amabella points at Ziggy, who adamantly denies causing them. His mom believes him, as does the indignant Madeline, sending Renata into a protective rage.
The battle lines among the mothers are soon drawn, and the back-biting escalates into fury.
Woodley, who got her start in television, said she’s thrilled to return in such a meaty role.
“(Jane) is trying to relate to these women that she has nothing in common with, and yet because she’s a mother, she can learn from them as an individual, and she can also learn from them to raise her child in a more grounded way,” she said. “So it’s just a beautiful opportunity, and I felt really grateful to bring authenticity to a character like that because it is so rare to find writing that’s so pure and organic.”
Meanwhile, other dramas unfold in the respective homes of this central trio: spousal abuse, abandonment issues and memories of a vicious rape.
Madeline also is having a tough time dealing with baggage from her first marriage. She deeply resents the fact that her ex, who fled the roles of husband and father when their now-teenage daughter was little, has become a doting dad and adoring spouse to young yoga-obsessed second wife Bonnie (Zoë Kravitz) and their own kindergartner.
Though “Big Little Lies” is stylish, lovely to look at and full of playful moments, it also inspires us to look inward at our own sometimes chilling truths and come up with better ways, perhaps, to deal with them.
Jeanne Jakle’s column appears Wednesdays and Sundays in mySA.
jjakle@express-news.net
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