Common Sense Media Review
By Marina Gordon
,
based on child development research. How do we rate?
Tense, complex erotic thriller has sex, alcohol, drugs.
Parents Need to Know
Why Age 16+?
Any Positive Content?
Where to Watch
Videos and Photos
Losing Alice
What's the Story?
LOSING ALICE opens with a jarring suicide scene. From there, viewers struggle to know if it really happened or was filmed as part of the movie that famed director Alice (Ayelet Zurer) made from a screenplay by Sophie (Lihi Kornowski), a talented young obsessive fan. The erotic thriller unfolds slowy, as we see that Sophie has engineered the women's "chance" meeting on a train that begins their relationship. Sophie weaves herself into Alice's life -- her husband, actor David (Gal Toren), is cast in the movie; the original director conveniently dies so that Alice can take the reins; Sophie even befriends the couple's young children. Along the way, Sophie encourages many encounters to become sexual or erotic with Alice, David, and seemingly any adult she meets. Where will the family's entanglement with Sophie lead?
Is It Any Good?
The latest show about a middle-aged, economically fortunate woman whose life is upended (a la Big Little Lies, Dead to Me, The Undoing) is simultaneously mundane and shocking, engaging and enraging. From the two strangers' first "accidental" meeting on a train, young screenwriter Sophie begins to insinuate herself into Alice's life in a way that makes viewers say "Run!" but also "How far will she go?" In Losing Alice the camera stays on Ayelet Zurer's face as the title character for long stretches, revealing her emotions far more than her words do. Alice is annoyed but intrigued with Sophie, then turns jealous as she learns that her husband is attached to star in the movie Sophie has written (about a young woman who kills herself when she learns her best friend is sleeping with her father), and as time goes on she's delighted, inspired, aroused, and frightened by her.
Instead of Losing Alice, the show could be called "Finding Ayelet" -- the actress herself is more thrilling than the material itself, which can feel predictable. If Zurer's captivating performance here is any indication, she has a long successful career still ahead of her.
Talk to Your Kids About ...
Families can talk about how marriage and family life are depicted in Losing Alice and other series that aren't intended for children, as compared to those that are more family-friendly.
Families can talk about the way women are portrayed on television and why main female characters tend to be such a rarity. Are women on TV more often shown working together or working against each other? What about on Losing Alice? How do TV stereotypes match up to the behavior of the women you know in real life?
TV Details
- Premiere date : January 22, 2021
- Cast : Ayelet Zurer , Lihi Kornowski , Gal Toren
- Network : Apple TV
- Genre : Drama
- TV rating :
- Last updated : October 8, 2022
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