When David Nicholls released the novel One Day in 2010, it was expected that its literary success would make it a natural candidate for some kind of adaptation. The story of Emma and Dexter was a powerful draw for an audience eager for stories that continued to explore the market, which had been heated up by the Twilight saga: plots in which a couple struggles against some obstacle for their relationship to progress naturally.

What hinders the couple in Nicholls' book is time: soon after they meet in 1988, the two characters are pushed by circumstances, and with each new year, on the same day, July 15th, the reader will discover what has happened in their lives up to that point. The book does not appeal to vampirism, but it maintains part of the structure of that moment in literature. Emma starts in the book as an insecure young woman, and Dexter as the man with the appearance of a prince who hides a dark personality. At the time of the novel's release, Twilight had already been released and, two years after One Day hit the bookstores, Fifty Shades of Grey would come to reinforce the method.

In the film starring Anne Hathaway and Jim Sturgess, this method is even further reinforced, with an adaptation that, even coming from Nicholls' own hands, sanitizes Hathaway's character to make her seem even more "righteous". In the book, Emma and Dexter smoke incessantly and she even has an affair with a married man. In the 2011 film, all of this is suppressed so that "the love story according to the industry's hit manual" is not tarnished.

• One Day: How does the Netflix series compare to the book and the film?

The arrival of the television adaptation on the streaming service offered fans of the couple the possibility that the series would find a middle ground: that it would not be as sanitized as the film and not as direct as the book. As each episode would correspond to one of the years, there would be plenty of time to explore more of the characters, making decisions that were in line with today's perspective and not with the perspective of over 10 years ago. So, after finishing the season, it is fair to say that the TV adaptation achieved this goal.

Fifteenths of July

The successes begin with the casting of Ambika Mod (from the series This is Going to Hurt, from the BBC) to play Emma. It was a calculated casting to break down the image that the character built due to Anne Hathaway's angelic appearance. Ambika gives her voice to the protagonist, and this amplifies the lost details that were also suppressed by Anne's portrayal. The actress still manages to demonstrate vulnerability, but she builds the character around what differentiates her from the one created for the film.

As expected, what David Nicholls (now in the executive production) decided to keep untouched was what Dexter represents as an institution in this plot. Leo Woodall (from The White Lotus) was carefully chosen. His figure evokes an image of "royalty" even more than Jim Sturgess' and there is an implicit desire behind this choice - as it happens in the book and the film - to maintain the role of the "heroic but not heroic" character in the overall idea of the plot. By changing the public image of Emma so much and not his, the producers establish an ambiguous strategy: not to upset those who have become attached to a "princely" Dexter, since, deep down, having that appearance and being a bit of a bad boy only makes him more irresistible.

In fact, it is even coherent that in a story written by a man, the male character would be the one to have the journey of personal growth. One Day is a book about Dexter, about him trying to fit into the world. But, curiously, when the novel went through the market filter, it started to sound as if the main perspective was that of Emma; once in all the other titles that use the "initially impossible couple" structure, the sovereign voice is that of the woman; and the "bad boy prince" remains in the shadows (at least until "what makes him problematic" is revealed).

In 14 episodes, the miniseries takes few adaptation liberties regarding the story, and it works bureaucratically most of the time. There is a chapter in Nicholls' book that managed to be rejected in both adaptations, and to cover the gap left, a change in the counting of the years may have left the more purist fans a little stressed. In addition, some events are postponed or advanced compared to the novel. However, essentially, it's all there.

Although the miniseries was more committed to not embellishing the couple's story so much, we are talking about Netflix, and in addition to more doses of sex, there is something less adult in the way the series' aesthetic was conceived. In the film, even though they are younger, Anne and Jim seem more adult than Ambika and Leo, who remain youthful until the end. Perhaps this atmosphere, in the end, also contributed to the miniseries having less soul than the 2011 film.

Despite all the industrial factors of the film, it has a catharsis and an emotion that the miniseries lacks. This Netflix's One Day is better adapted and produced; it is conducted with more truth, has an unforgettable soundtrack (with Blur and Radiohead as great examples), but it does not have the same charisma. Just like in relationships, it is never possible to trace what makes two people fall in love with each other; it is also difficult to discover how to capture the power of charm.

Perhaps the miniseries One Day doesn't touch you as much... But, all its fifteenths of July build a great example of what good TV is.

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Encerrada (2024-2024)

Criado por: Nicole Taylor

Duração: 1 temporada

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