Based on Evidence of Love: A True Story of Passion and Death in the Suburbs (1984), journalists John Bloom and Jim Atkinson, love and death (VF of Love Death), series of seven episodes of the essential David E. Kelley (Anatomy of a Scandal), transports us to a small town in Texas where, on Friday, June 13, 1980, a bloody murder rocked America. That day, Betty Gore (Lily Rabe), teacher and mother, is killed with an ax by her friend Candy Montgomery (Elizabeth Olsen), queen of the home and mother of two children.
Two years earlier, Candy, dissatisfied with her union with Pat Montgomery (Patrick Fugit), and Allan Gore (Jesse Plemons), weary of Betty’s depressive disorders, had an affair. Practicing Methodists, very involved in their parish, Candy and Allan had carefully thought about their extramarital affair, going so far as to draw up a list of “pros” and “cons”.
If the story sounds familiar, maybe you’ve seen Stephen Gyllenhaal’s TV movie starring Barbara Hershey, A proof of love (A Killing in a Small Town1990), or followed the miniseries by Nick Antosca and Robin Veith with Jessica Biel, candy (2022). Whether love and death had been filmed about twenty years ago, Nicole Kidman, already seen in Kelley’s universe (Nine Perfect Strangers, The Undoing), would have found a role in which she excels, that of a placid woman burning from the inside. It is therefore not surprising to find her there as a producer.
In the absence of the Australian actress, it is the no less talented Elizabeth Olsen who lends her angelic features to the one who was the ideal housewife to her neighbors. From almost every scene, she perfectly embodies this woman who hides her flaws behind a mask of kindness.
idyllic suburb
Lulled by the sublime voice of Nina Simone singing Don’t Let Me Be Misunderstoodthe credits summarize in a few images the drama to come: a sign announcing the city of Wylie, Texas, a cross bearing the inscription “ jesus saves », a white church, station wagons with faux wood trim, hands brushing against each other, the facade of a motel, a desperate beauty cutting her finger while slicing vegetables, chipped dishes, blood on the floor tile…
Through an ample staging, a fluid camera and a judicious use of high angle shots, Lesli Linka Glatter (Homeland) suggests the presence of a benevolent god floating above the small community where the sun never ceases to shine, where the parishioners live in harmony, where it is difficult for the lost sheep to hide to sin in peace.
As a counterpoint, the director, who takes advantage of the meticulous reconstruction of the period, composes suffocating camera scenes from which frustrated housewives want to escape, where lovers take refuge to reproduce the gestures of a traditional couple. In the second part of the series, where the story focuses on Candy’s trial, where the court of justice replaces the church, where the study of manners with an offbeat tone gives way to judicial drama with the air of deja-vu, the camera stops to better track down the culprit.
Dear neighbor
“This is a real story”, is it written, white on black, before each episode. Having allowed himself a few liberties with reality, David E. Kelley surprises with his way of making his characters evolve as if they were playing in a Feydeau revisited by Burton. By keeping himself at a distance, he seems to look down on, even make fun of, this community torn between the values of dad is right and the temptations of Saturday night fever.
Very present in Love Death, references to popular culture reveal character traits. Discovering his daughter disguised as “ bad » Sandy’s grease, Betty, an uninhibited bigot, takes the opportunity to blame Candy for having taken their daughters to see this musical comedy which she considers unsuitable for the family. To escape his dreary daily life, Pat projects himself into The cruise has fun. As for Candy, who will plead self-defense at her trial, she is having a blast driving on Take a Chance on Me from ABBA.
When asked why she gave Betty 41 ax blows rather than dodging the attack, Candy replied candidly: “I was afraid she would get up…” Let’s remember that a month earlier, a long footage released in theaters had traumatized more than one: Friday 13 (Friday the 13th), by Sean S. Cunningham.
Moreover, even if the images of the murder scene appear from the first episode, it is only in the last episode that the murder is revealed in full. The scene is so violent that it looks like a horror movie. Repeatedly showing Betty’s body lying in a pool of blood wasn’t enough? Whether Love Death turns out to be a fascinating series to devour in a hurry although we know the outcome, one has to wonder why David E. Kelley put so much black humor into it to relate the circumstances that led to the death of a woman crumbling under the mental load.