Julianne Moore as Lisey in Lisey’s Story.APPLE TV+
The first obligation on reading a Stephen King novel or watching an adaptation is to acknowledge that you will be confronted with a battle between good and evil. The second obligation is to be aware that King has a set of underlying themes: poverty is evil, everyone is flawed, children are essentially good and being a writer means living a tortured existence.
Lisey’s Story (streams on AppleTV+ from Friday) dwells on several of the underlying themes. It is also a highly unusual adaptation of King’s work – he adapted all eight episodes himself and all are directed by Chilean art house director Pablo Larrain. You notice from the get-go that this is a gorgeous production, rich in a palette of fall colours and achingly quiet. Also, from the start, water plays a significant role. Anyone who swims will envy the outdoor pool that the central character slips into at the beginning of multiple episodes.
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That’s Lisey (Julianne Moore), who is grieving the loss of her husband Scott (Clive Owen), two years after his death. Scott was that rare figure, a popular writer taken seriously as a literary figure. In numerous flashbacks we see Lisey’s memory of an attempt to murder Scott, possibly by a deranged fan. Thus we get a hint that Scott is a figure like King himself – much adored and read, but in King’s case he hasn’t the literary acclaim that Scott acquires.
Lisey is grieving the loss of her husband Scott (Clive Owen), two years after his death.APPLE TV+
In the midst of this ravishing but lugubrious landscape and mood Lisey swims, mopes about and seems to have contact only with her two sisters, the starkly unhinged Amanda (Joan Allen) and down-to earth Darla (Jennifer Jason Leigh). Meanwhile, Lisey tries to fend off various scholars who turn up asking about access to Scott’s papers. It’s a coldly isolated existence for Lisey.
But as the story unfolds – two episodes arrive first and then weekly – the drama is less Lisey’s story than it is Scott’s. We become aware that Lisey and Scott had a unique bond because he revealed the heartbreaking scars of his bleak childhood to her and her alone. She understands his childhood fuelled his books but senses she knows only part of the full story.
Joan Allen as Amanda and Jennifer Jason Leigh as Darla.APPLE TV+
That’s where Amanda takes her, into a place imagined as benign but revealed as terrifying. At this point the viewer might lose patience, because King’s monsters here are gruesome and outrageous. The thing is, you know that the actual monster looming throughout, is grief. While so much is made of Scott’s childhood terrors, Lisey is the more interesting character, her mourning being profound and unknowable to anyone else.
The point where the storyline shifts to a netherworld will put off some viewers but there is so much to luxuriate in, from the exquisite setting and colour palette, to the performances of Moore, Allen and Leigh. There are scenes that put, wonderfully, their skills on display and in contrast Clive Owen as the writer is like someone beckoned away to different story. What underlying theme is here? Being a writer means living a tortured existence, certainly, but also that the writer’s support figure, a spouse or partner, is more than a mere supporting character.
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