I choose to watch the HBO series Big Little Lies, which was written/produced for television by David E. Kelley; the show isbased on the same titled bestseller by Liane Moriarty. One of my reasons for picking this series is because of the amazing female cast which includes Reese Witherspoon as Madeline, Nicole Kidman as Celeste, Laura Dern as Renata, Shailene Woodley as Jane, and Zoe Kravitz as Bonnie. Yes, the cast is amazing, but I’ll be focusing on Nicole Kidman’s character Celeste and her relationship with her husband Perry played by Alexander Skarsgard.
I really hate to give away spoilers, but it’s hard to discuss the relationship between Celeste and Perry without giving away a few spoilers, so please if you haven’t watched the show and are interested in watching STOP READING NOW!
At first, it seems like Celeste and Perry have this ideal life and marriage, but it’s far from ideal because he is physically abusing her. I picked these characters because domestic violence is a real issue that effects many women throughout the world. I love how when the show begins Perry seems like devoted husband who is crazy about his wife, but you soon realize that he is controlling. We first see this side of Perry when he and Celeste are discussing a bullying incident that happened during orientation at their twins school, Perry tells Celeste that he doesn’t want their sons hanging out with this bully and she explains to him that she doesn’t think that’s necessary when she turns to walk away he gets up, grabs her roughly by the arm and basically demands that she listen to him. The following day they go together to drop off their sons for their first day of school, which leads to an argument because Perry doesn’t get to meet the teacher. When they get home Celeste approaches Perry to try and make peace, but it turns violent. He slaps her across the face, and they fight, but the fight leads to sex. After this incident in the series they end up seeing a marriage counselor who sees right through Perry.
The interactions between the counselor and Celeste were difficult to watch because Celeste attempts to make up excuses for Perry’s abuse. In class we have had discussions regarding domestic violence and how some women make up excuses for their abuser because they feel like they have nothing without him, and I saw this with Celeste.
In my opinion, what we see Celeste deal with is true for many women in similar situations. Being scared of breaking up their family, being alone, and believing that their abuser can change.
