Netflix’s ‘Obsession’ Fails Very Badly At Being Sexy
If, like me, you made the decision to watch Netflix‘s new thriller Obsession this week, then you too may be recovering from some of the worst TV in recent history.
You see, I’d had my eye on this so-called “erotic thriller”. I knew it was coming it and I’m ashamed to admit that I was looking forward to it — I’ve been a fan of Richard Armitage since North & South, and Indira Varma of Luther is always great to watch. I suspected that a movie about a 50-year-old hooking up with his son’s girlfriend was never going to be a masterpiece — but British thrillers, even if they’re schlocky, usually make for a pretty good time.
Nothing prepared me, though, for how stupid this show actually turned out to be. From the moment that William (Richard Armitage) inexplicably pushes an olive into the mouth of Anna (Charlie Murphy) — seconds, mind you, after he realises she’s his son’s girlfriend — you know that you’re in for a bad time.
And what a bad time it was. As our protagonists swiftly arrange to meet up after the olive thing, engaging in hilariously dramatised sex on a hardwood floor, I was reminded of Everyone Is Beautiful And No One Is Horny, Raquel Benedict’s recent essay that laments an uptick of onscreen characters who are beautiful but sexless.
The article mostly bemoans the Marvelification of cinema, where actors with PT-finessed physiques too busy inflicting violence on people or spreading military propaganda to be horny. But in this case, we see a series that is trying desperately hard to be sexy that is not sexy at all. Armitage and Murphy are both good-looking people, as actors usually are, but whoever thought having them lock eyes weirdly in a bar would be enough to help us make sense of why they would both betray their partners (in William’s case, his son and partner) was totally mistaken.
Even as the sex is happening, it really is the most cold and unappealing sex you’ve ever seen, even if the writers do attempt a vaguely BDSM-inflected subplot that doesn’t really go anywhere. (Anna declares at one point that she has “surrendered” to William and he asks her for a glass of wine. Sure.)
I’m just not feeling this instant chemistry that they’re supposed to have, just a bunch of crazy staring ??♀️#ObsessionNetflix
— Blacksas02512 (@blackss02512) April 13, 2023
“Even when they have sex, no one is horny. No one is attracted to anyone else. No one is hungry for anyone else,” Benedict writes, which pretty much sums up Obsession to a tee. Every one of William and Anna’s sex scenes comes off as so clinical and joyless that they’re almost sad. At one point, we are even treated to a scene where Armitage is sat naked on a floor like a baby waiting for his bath. Grim.
In Episode 3, we see Jay (Rish Shah) finally walk in on his father and fiancé doing some weird blindfolded grunting. As a shocked Jay begins to back away, he bumps into a banister. He then loses his balance and in an impressively athletic feat, falls to his death. It was an unfortunate way to go, but let’s face it: the only appropriate reaction to seeing your nakey father with your nakey girl.
Actually, it’s probably the only appropriate reaction to Obsession in general. There is really nothing erotic about this erotic thriller, nothing sexy about all the weird sex, and no justifiable reason for something this stupid to exist. No stars — would probably hate-watch again.
Obsession is streaming on Netflix.