Rating:
Summary: Disney's investment in its first scripted Australian series pays off. This is prestige television with unique storytelling and a strong cast. Highly recommended
The most unsettling thing about the early episodes of "The Clearing" (I've been given access to only the first two episodes for the purpose of this review) is how successfully it shows the nightmarish reality of living with past trauma. No matter how well you think you've managed to cope, and how your life has moved on, it always seems to be just around the corner, a ghostly image in the distance, a white van driving past away from triggering memories that refuse to remain hidden.
There are two parallel and intertwined storylines in "The Clearing", one featuring Sara (Lily LaTorre), a young girl kidnapped by a strange cult, and Amy (played masterfully by Julia Savage), her "sister" in the cult and someone who is torn between helping a frightened young girl and obeying the rules of the cult. The other story follows Freya (Teresa Palmer), a single mother bringing up her son Billy (Flynn Wandin), who has isolated herself from everyone around her for what could be very good reasons (at least in her mind). One moment, she is enjoying a playful moment with her son, and the next, she is in full panic mode just because he has left her sight for a minute. Her past trauma is reignited when she hears news of the kidnapping, a reminder of what has happened in her past, and what could still happen to her son in the present.
A couple of big stars have also joined the cast. Miranda Otto plays Adrienne Beaufort, the spiritual leader of the cult and a woman who seems far removed from the daily cruelty dished out in her cult (even when she's "there" spiritually via casually listening in on a punishment sessions via the phone), even though it's obvious that these cruelties are all her own creations based her own rules. Guy Pearce, at least in the first two episodes I've seen, has a less prominent role as a supporter and confidant of Adrienne. But it's Kate Mulvany's Aunty Tamsin that's the most terrifying member of the cult. She's both reckless and fervent in her beliefs - a dangerous combination - the architect of the kidnapping, and the conduit in which the cult dishes out its punishments.
There is a major revelation in the early part of this miniseries that, if you were paying close attention, would seem obvious. But even though much is clearer by the end of the first episode, the distorted reality that Freya lives in is keenly felt by the viewer, as we continue to question what's real, and what's not, who's telling us the truth, who isn't, who we can trust, and who we must fear.
And that's perhaps the closest most of us will ever know to what it's like to be in a cult, and what it's like when we leave it.
You can stream "The Clearing" right now on Disney+ - new episodes arriving weekly. Subscribe to Disney+ for only $13.99 per month, or $139.99 per year (16% off).
