[star rating=”5″] AFTER LIFE. Directed by and starring Ricky Gervais. Netflix.
MEGAN FURNISS reviews
I finally sat down (and then couldn’t get up) and binged watched Ricky Gervais’ six-episode ode to grief, After Life. This man is a genius, and his work gets better and better with every project.
After Life is the story of a man who has lost his wife to cancer, and his ugly battle with deep and unrelenting grief. Ricky Gervais is Tony; a man so preoccupied with his loss, and so honest about how traumatised he is, that he makes all those around him suffer. What makes it worse is that there is a collection of gorgeous, strange and unlikely people who really do care about him, and it is ultimately their collective redemptive power that makes him see that life is worth living after all. And the dog. The dog.
Ricky has collected a superb and amazing cast – some big guns included – to flesh out his character’s journey from a daily battle with suicide to seeing beyond himself to others. David Bradley plays his Alzheimer suffering dad, and Penelope Wilton (one of my absolute favourite favourites) plays his grave-visiting friend and confidant. But everyone is brilliant, from Tommy Finnegan who plays his tiny nephew George, to the collection of strange lonely people who share their oddball stories for the local freebie newspaper.
Tony’s transition from unreachable, mean and cruel, grief stricken sufferer who doesn’t care at all about the impact he is having on others, to someone who starts to consider them, happens in teeny increments, peppered with a ‘what to do when I am dead’ video message from his late wife. His strange friendships with a drug dealer, and a sex worker, as well as his completely lovely co-workers, and his father’s nurse (Ricky’s constant scene partner Ashley Jensen) bring these moments of growing to life.
After Life is Ricky Gervais in his element. He also takes the opportunity to soap box a little (it’s his series after all) and there are little lectures about atheism, philosophy and his take on human nature that are all pure Gervaisisms.
I love the Ricky Gervais of this series, and the one before, Derek. They are far more than comic – they are bleak, brilliantly observed, deeply empathetic, warm and hilarious portrayals of what makes us human. This, for me, is the opposite of what traditional comedy, particularly stand-up, is all about.
This little series is also beautifully shot, and the location and sets are perfect. After Life is devastating, beautiful, moving and funny. I love it.
What: After Life
Where: Netflix
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