Wolf Hall

Mark Rylance is my fave Thesp., so I’d been meaning to watch this for years. And I’d become a fan of Clare Foy from The Crown (a bit) and All of Us Strangers (a lot). And Damian Lewis (Alex Rider…).

It came in as slightly below the hype (so great was the hype). But all very good really, especially Mark and his silences.

Baby Reindeer

Recommended by probably the most cinematophile person I know, who’s only 19 and seen everything. She even recognised the director of Parasite at a street café in Primrose Hill and said hi. I’d forgotten she liked quite dark stuff…

This matched the hype, and (a rare thing) ended really well, with a wise and nuanced conclusion reinforcing our-shared-humanity, there-but-for-the-grace-of-God…, etc.

How they are related

Both Richard Gadd (BR) and Mark Rylance (WH) are blokes who grow progressively terrified of an unstable person who has power over them. Both try various ways to deal with this, and the power held over them is the type which provides them with some benefit: for Mark power and wealth, for Richard a kind of affirmation, which shows as his success at comedy and a deepening dependance on Martha.