The Flatshare

 A British romcom lacking a bit of British humour

© Paramount Plus

I recently watched the miniseries “The Flatshare” on Paramount Plus, based on the novel with the same title by Beth O’Leary and composed of 6 episodes of approximately 45 minutes.

 

After watching “The Lovers”, about which I told you something some time ago, I threw myself into another British romantic comedy before moving on to something more challenging.

 

The basic idea from which the story starts is quite original: Tiffany and Leon, due to financial problems, are forced to share a small flat in London, but in such a way as to never meet. In fact, they share everything, including the bed, except that she can use all of this from 8pm to 8am and on weekends, while he is entitled to the time slot from 8am to 8pm (he spends the weekends at his girlfriend’s flat).

 

Tiffany works for a web magazine and has just broken up with her ex, Justin, with whom she had (and partly still has) a toxic relationship. Finding herself without a place to live and with little money, she accepted Leon’s offer.

He, on the other hand, works nights at a hospice and wants to put some money aside to try to get his brother out of prison.

 

The two have never seen each other, they do not know what each other looks like, they cannot meet or speak on the phone or via mobile phone messages, but they communicate exclusively through Post-its.

 

The idea is certainly intriguing, even if it is never made clear how they came to this agreement, given that they have never met!

 

The performance is at times hilarious, thanks also to the skill of the two main actors, Jessica Brown Findlay and Anthony Welsh, but throughout the watching, I had the impression that something was missing. Yes, because in a story set in London, there is very little trace of the British humour that would have benefited its narration so much.

 

Moreover, the supporting characters are barely mentioned, two-dimensional, which is inexplicable, given the length of the episodes and their not particularly fast pace.

 

The story is dotted here and there with various ideas, too many in fact: toxic relationships, legal problems, homosexual relationships, interracial relationships (practically all of them, except the toxic one), terminal illnesses, abandonment of the elderly and so on, but all of them are barely hinted at and often just thrown in there, almost as if, each time, one were checking a box. It would have been better to focus on a few and develop them better.

 

To this, let’s add some important twists in the economy of the story that are a bit predictable, while others are unexpected but not very convincing, such as, for example, hopeless situations that are inexplicably and suddenly resolved.

 

On the other hand, the curiosity to discover how the long-awaited happy ending will be achieved is kept alive through a continuous complication of events and by the cunning of the scriptwriters in interrupting the story always at the right moment at the end of each episode.

 

In short, it’s a fun series with some excellent strengths that at least partially manage to make us turn a blind eye to its many weaknesses.

I feel like recommending it to you.