Eve Hewson as Adele in 'Behind Her Eyes'
Behind Her Eyes, starring Tom Bateman, Eve Hewson and Simona Brown, premieres globally on Netflix
Marketed with the hashtag #WTFThatEnding when the book was released, fans of the novel will not be disappointed with the Netflix adaptation. The six-part series retains the “what just happened” kind of ending that you’ll either love or plainly just find chillingly irritating. But whether the ending works for you, Behind Her Eyes, directed by Erik Richter Strand, is a very sleek production of the novel, with strong performances from the lead actors.
Set in London, Behind Her Eyes follows Louise Barnsley (played by Simona Brown), a single mother with a part-time job in a psychiatrist's office. After her husband left her to be with another woman, Louise has made Adam, her son, her priority. But things take a turn when she decides to go out for drinks one evening. Stood up by her friend, she meets a handsome and mysterious Scottish man at the bar. There’s instant chemistry between them, but, as Louise finds out the next day, he turns out to be both her new boss, psychiatrist David Ferguson (played by Tom Bateman), and married to a beautiful young woman named Adele (played by Eve Hewson).
Simona Brown as Louise in 'Behind Her Eyes' (Photo credit: NickWall/Netflix)
Louise though soon begins an affair with David. Things take a stranger turn when Louise befriends Adele, after bumping into her by chance in the street near her son’s school. At Adele’s request, the two women form a secret friendship and bond over their common history of night terrors. Louise experiences terrible nightmares that induce her to sleepwalk. Adele teaches her how to control her dreams with the help of instructions in an old journal written by Rob (played by Robert Aramayo), a troubled friend from Adele’s past.
Little by little, as Louise gets closer to both David and Adele, she slowly discovers that there is something not quite right about the married couple. Is David an abusive and controlling husband, or is Adele just very manipulative? Louise finds herself inevitably caught in their web of lies and deceit.
What makes this show so gripping is the strange and mysterious relationship between David and Adele. There is a toxicity between the couple that both Tom Bateman and Eve Hewson capture so well. Bateman’s character remains cold and withdrawn with his wife, while Hewson’s Adele behaves like a Stepford wife, pristinely dressed, and a coldness that feels both eerie and calculating. Through flashbacks, the series slowly reveals the reasons for the toxicity in their marriage—why David refuses to say “I love you” back to Adele on the phone, and why he keeps calling her at specific times during the day to check up on her.
Tom Bateman as David and Eve Hewson as Adele in 'Behind Her Eyes'
Behind Her Eyes easily pulls its audience into its mysterious plot. This is a new Netflix series that viewers will effortlessly binge through. The series is very well produced, perfectly conveying a sense of unease, which establishes the feeling that not all is as it seems.
However, once the major twist arrives, about halfway through the six-part series, all this built-up suspense is somewhat thrown out the window, and a new genre of story introduces itself. The series thus begins as an erotic psychological thriller until it dips, head first, into the supernatural. It throws everything off-kilter, and may also turn some viewers off as the plot becomes less credible. The characters though remain strong and consistent, and become the glue that keeps a crazy dismantling narrative together. Rather than add anything to the story, however, the ending revelation functions more like a terribly cruel punchline.
Behind Her Eyes is overall a very engaging and suspenseful series that plays with genre to throw off its audience from any expectations. The book and its ending divided readers, just as the series certainly will too with viewers.
