Delirio

Delirium is an amazing book from the Colombian writer Laura Restrepo. This series beautifully portrays it with great photography and acting.

To English speakers and anyone discovering this gem, this is not a story aiming to give you a message about mental health. It is one of the greatest pieces of literature from this author mixing a story of a woman from upper class facing mental health issues with the realities of Colombian history in the 70s and 80s.

The actors do a great job with theater like interpretations. The music and ambiance also helps to immerse you in the story. The contrast of the different areas of Bogotá portraying the different social classes makes it more real.

I urge people to read the novel to have a better understanding of this beautiful adaptation.

I thought I'd share my thoughts just because I imagine this series won't get too many views from English speaking countries.

First of all, I'd like to point out that the first episode is absolutely horrendous in terms of editing. It's stressful trying to keep up with everything, all the character and exposition dump that's happening. Forcing years if backstory into brief scenes. We are introduced to so many new characters at once and are expected to know and care about their feelings.. If you can get past the first episode the overall story improves dramatically.

Overall it's a decent show, it's an interesting story but it tries to cram and dense down way too many side stories from the original into this mini series. It often changes the perspective of the character we are following and it's quite confusing what the point of it all it is supposed to be.

Again, the main downside I see is the editing. Especially during the first few episodes it's very confusing to follow which timeline we're currently watching (as the main character looks pretty much identical in all timelines).

Without going into spoilers, it's also incredibly hard to feel "sorry" for the main character based on her past without actually knowing her past and seeing her act horribly with those around her. She actively manipulates those loving her for her own advantage or desires.

Ultimately, every single character in this show is human, flawed. And I really mean every single character. Again, without going into spoilers they either cheat, kill, steal or lie.

From a technical side, the series is well shot, there is some very good acting aside from a select few characters (child actors aren't amazing), sound track is well placed and sound design all contribute to an immersive experience, albeit there are some "dream" scenes which have really loud voices (bad mixing, in original language).

Delirium is a literary masterpiece, rich in voices, fractured time, and psychological depth - a nearly untranslatable work.

The series is visually polished and narratively ambitious, especially in its handling of time. But it falls short emotionally.

The 1980s in Colombia were dark, chaotic - and ironically, full of sharp, irreverent humor. That crucial layer of dark Colombian wit is missing here.

What we get is a beautiful aesthetic - but not the delirium.

Worth watching, but far from capturing the raw soul of that era.

For a Colombian, the historical representation of each character is obvious. For those who are unfamiliar with it, the drama can be confusing, and it is a very challenging adaptation effort. The original novel consists of internal dialogues in first person, reflecting the mentality and idiosyncrasies of each character. Capturing this in a more linear and externalized version is really difficult. However, for those who want to pay close attention to what it is about, it can be interesting to watch and draw parallels with social groups, differences, and discrimination, as well as the emergence of violence, drugs, and mental illness, which are often trivialized in lighter series.

Started very good, keeps up your attention, until you realize it is pointless. Reminds on a typical spanish telenovela where every business involves mafia and drugs.

I started watching it because I found somewhere it is about mental ilness but not at all!

All i all, very low minded series with no point.