Lying down with the children at dusk on a meadow that they do not know is a paddock requires some preparation, but is still likely to pass as a "small thing". The effect – cinematically exaggerated into the cathedral – is all the greater when the children, as soon as they are allowed to open their eyes again, are surrounded by comfortably snorting four-legged friends. It must seem to them that their mother is a magician. There is only one thing this woman cannot do: stop the blatantly unjust course of nature.
"Tiny Beautiful Things" is the focus of the Hulu and Disney+ series of the same name by Liz Tigelaar (directed by Desiree Akhavan, Rachel Lee Goldenberg and Stacie Passon). This is not new under the series sky, especially in the genre of emotionally demanding mother-daughter series based on bestsellers. In "Little Fires Everywhere" (starring Reese Witherspoon; also adapted by Liz Tigelaar), it was the small cracks in the heroine's outwardly perfect middle-class biography that eventually led to the collapse of the entire façade.
The dramaturgical and atmospheric proximity of the series is unmistakable, and once again Reese Witherspoon is executive producer with her company Hello Sunshine. However, the direction of view is now reversed: the collapse of the family has taken place and is caught up in excitingly interwoven flashbacks. The beautiful little things, of which the heroine long considered herself unworthy, turn out to be the inconspicuous building blocks from which the shattered happiness of life can be reassembled.
Life in crisis
At the center is Clare Pierce (Kathryn Hahn; as younger Clare: Sarah Pidgeon; even younger: Marlow Barkley) in her late forties in her dual capacity as mother and daughter. She grew up with her brother Lucas (Nick Stahl/ Owen Painter) with the single, young mother Frankie (Merritt Wever), who made her children forget with ingenuity and joie de vivre that money was often tight.
Together with Clare, the unconventional mother eventually even attended college. But even before Clare could graduate, she died of cancer. For Clare, a world collapsed. The unresolved grief, pain and anger shaped her entire life, which we get to know in the midst of one of the many crises.
In the meantime, she herself is the mother of a resolute teenager (Tanzyn Crawford) and married in her second marriage to the understanding musician Danny (Quentin Pair/ Stevonte Hart), who is annoyed by her escapades; a very static role compared to Clare. With the help of a psychologist (Tijuana Ricks), the two try to save their relationship, which leads to wordy skirmishes with some comedy and goes through all the expected stages.
Symbolism with an announcement
So the narrative is decidedly simple. It aims at the normal overload of life, the permanent stumbling, not the dramatic fall. And therein, played captivatingly, is the strength of "Tiny Beautiful Things". Where it becomes symbolic, however, there with an announcement. In the very first episode, for example, the protagonist has a realization in the face of delicious fast foods in packaging that can hardly be justified, which seems to her to be the motto of her life with striking clarity: "Everything good turns out to be bad."
Although a quick-witted person, Clare feels locked up in a dungeon of self-reproach and discontent. As usual in a depression, every decision made seems to her to be the wrong choice, a betrayal of her dreams. For a long time, even her writing talent stood in the heroine's way more than it benefited her. Although she had a book contract in her pocket, the publisher did not like her intimate grief coping novel, which combined physical ecstasy and despair. So much for the boldness – he only wanted sex, not howling.
Giving advice as a grief box aunt
The twist of the plot is the reconnection to this kind of self-healing by asking the protagonist to write the anonymous advice column "Dear Sugar", which is apparently read by her entire environment. Lonely, desperate and relationship-damaged people write about their fears and worries. Clare, who sees her own life as a "shit show", notices that this is exactly what enables her to respond to those seeking advice. And it helps her to notice what is good and valuable about her own life: the little beautiful things that her mother taught her to perceive. Of course, the heroine's growing self-acceptance triggers new tremors towards the end, which will probably lead to a second season.
The very flat, at least not permanently present advice dimension is the germ of the project in terms of genesis: Cheryl Strayed's "Dear Sugar" column actually existed in the online magazine "The Rumpus"; her book "Tiny Beautiful Things" is the basis of the screenplay. Unfortunately, this leads to many emotional messages from the off, which at the end of each episode bend the actually appealingly true-to-life plot with musical sauce pathos into kitchen psychology. "It's about doing the impossible every day." "When you receive a gift, say thank you." "Don't fake it. You both deserve better."
One feels somewhat helpless in the midst of the hollow phrases from the Lebenshilfe bestseller factory. This excellently edited, charmingly acted and, for all its emotionality, refreshingly funny series would have deserved a better text basis.
Tiny Beautiful Things is on Disney+.