Fifteen-Love

My Review- Fifteen Love Streaming on Foxtel

My Rating 7/10

This 6 part drawn out series starring Aidan Turner I found interesting to a degree as another story portraying the patriarchal power of men in Sport.

It also effectively makes a statement that the women who report sexual misconduct by coaches must be taken seriously and not dismissed until the accused is proven not guilty without a shadow of a doubt .

Aidan Turner is very impressive as the charismatic Glenn Lapthorn a respected and sought after Grand Slam tennis coach.

His former tennis prodigy Justine Pearce played impressively by Ella Lily Hyland reaches the semi final at The French Open tennis tournament but sustains a serious injury forcing her to leave the game .

Five years on Justine is undergoing therapy while her ex coach has successfully moved on to coach a new tennis star .

My problem with this story written and produced by Hania Elkington is that her main character Justine Pearce is so unlikeable unappealing and ruthless she uses people to gain her goals and will stop at nothing to gain revenge on the man she was once so obsessed by.

No reflection on Ella Lily Hyland's performance she plays this character exactly as written as a young women obviously obsessed by her handsome coach and totally jealous of his continued success.

Justine is a very troubled woman with a substance abuse problem and a huge ego who after five years seems more driven by revenge than justice.

On the other hand the coach Glenn Lapthorn in my view gets the audience's sympathy immediately because in contrast to his accuser Justine he seems so likeable.

Perhaps that's exactly what the story creator Hania Elkington and Directors Toby MacDonald and Eva Riley wanted to portray but the story didn't ring true for me.

Especially after 6 episodes for me another story that probably would have been a better movie however I did enjoy the performances very much as a whole the plot just seemed a little improbable to me.

I enjoyed all the performances from the supporting cast especially Maria Almeida, Harmony Rose Bremner who play upcoming tennis stars and the coaches wife Khalida Lapthorn played so well by Manon Azem.

Justine Pearce works as a physiotherapist. Once upon a time, she was a talented tennis star. She competed in a semi-final at the French Open. She had to say goodbye to her career. Why? Because she experienced a painful wrist injury. Glenn Lapthorn, Justine's former tennis coach, left her and went on with his life.

Five years later, Justine runs into Glenn. He's still a tennis coach, but she can't let go of the past.

I don't know very much about tennis. Yes, I come from Sweden, Björn Borg's homeland. And yes, I've seen "Borg vs. McEnroe" (2017). But my knowledge of tennis, and my interest for it, ends somewhere there. In other words, I focused more on the different relationships between the characters.

I like Justine. She's not giving up when it comes to justice. She has certain important goals. At least if you ask me. I also think that she's very strong and beautiful.

And Glenn, well ... he has multiple personalities. I saw the charming gentleman and the violent power abuser. Two different sides in one man. It's quite scary for me. How can Glenn switch between these roles so fast? He must have practiced.

I also liked Anna Chancellor's character. I saw some micro-expressions in her role as Andi Woodward. And I believe that micro-expressions are a little difficult to master.

So what did I miss? Hm ... a bit more romance and revenge. But "Fifteen-Love" is good in my eyes.

Despite the scathing reviews from the mainstream media, I trusted my instincts and stuck it out for the entire six sets. Yes, there were quite a few unforced errors in the plot and more than a couple of double faults in the editing. Ella Lily Hyland, however was absolutely amazing. She literally smashed it out of the court. Vulnerable and venomous, victim and aggressor, her voice, movement and expression were captivating. Such was her presence, I felt that I had truly known this almost unknown actress for years.

The plot was predictable but worthy. Other acting was less so. One can understand how Aidan Turner became more famous for his torso than his acting ability. Other members of the cast were more caricatures than characters.

It's a bit stereotypic, which is pretty obvious from the first few episodes. You can see where this is going. Perhaps not a surprise since its created by (angry?) women who wants to make a statement?

The show is good, the acting is good, the characters are interesting and well played.

One thing is terrible though; the typical issues when making a show about sports. The scenes when they play tennis...why didnt they just skip those? Its terrible! It looks like a bunch of amateurs playing, with a cheering crowd which would have booooed for much less. If these were the ones qualifying for the grand slams, this show would be a total disaster.

Watch it though, and forget about tennis scenes.

Despite being slow at parts, the characters, the acting, the story is so incredibly captivating. They've shone a light on a difficult topic that needs to be brought into the public conscious and you can really tell that the cast were passionate about doing this story right.

I'm looking forward to seeing more from Ella (Justine) and Maria (Luisa) in the future. They captured their character's vulnerability, fear, hope and a whole rollercoaster of emotions so well, even during some particularly difficult scenes - I hope there was mental health support available on and off set! Aiden Turner was also fantastic as always - menacing in his role as Glenn.