lisbethinsydney

Watching Nicola Walker breathe her way through an anxiety attack, gasping like a fish, or composing her mouth three or four times before speaking, is a major symptom of her elite middle class angst in this faintly ridiculous series.

Seasons 1 and 2 were watchable because we had the clients' stories adding genuine interest to the plot, albeit in the style of lives of the rich and famous. Only Maggie's discontent and annoyance at her boss's distraction with the ongoing Christie subterfuge hint at an opposing view. Hannah is no mentor to the very capable Maggie, which is sort of the idea if you are a career woman who supports other women, and the law firm loses a very promising young solicitor because of it.

The executives are all such smug good friends that there are no real consequences for this and other obvious failures. Throughout the first three seasons, we are asked to suspend disbelief at Hannah's supposed quandary of loving two men, including her husband, who are inexplicably crazy about her, a schoolgirl fantasy embarrassingly entertained in a tough legal professional environment. Again, Nicola Walker's mannerisms are irritatingly performative, with a smile that is almost psychotic when asking Christie to reject an exciting career move abroad.

Hannah can do no wrong, except she does to Nathan. Shouldn't a loving father be able to see his children after divorcing their mother? Unfortunately, this series is aimed at the "women can have it all" female demographic who don't see another side to any of their core beliefs, so real issues in Family Law are glossed over. But then this series was written by a woman who thinks professional men text like besotted 15-year-old girls and who dresses up hypocrisy and dishonesty in faux feminist psychobabble speechifying. We really do live in a fake world if this is considered to be "brilliant drama". Kudos to Nathan for his brilliant quips and love for his children. Stephen Mangan is great in this.

The best thing about Season 4 is that it confirms what we suspected all along: that Hannah is a commitophobe and, more importantly, a lawyer first and foremost, to her very bones. Make of that what you will.

A film for grown-ups. Ralph Fiennes delivers a complete interpretation of his character's investigation that is riveting to watch. My other reason for seeing this film was Isabella Rossellini's presence, which was incredibly powerful for the few scenes she appears in. Her character helps to reveal the previous Pope's well-laid succession planning.

Conclave sketches out a current debate in the Church and is probably hoping for a miracle by the rapidity of consensus at the end. The new Pope, however, is not as some viewers immediately jump to conclusions about. The choice is a symbolic one and looks to (real) women having a greater role in the Church, that's all.

This is a film to immerse yourself in: so Italian, intriguing, careful and beautifully imagined. The whole feel of Conclave stays with you long afterwards; best seen in the cinema to enjoy its full effect.

The banality of evil is on full display here, laid bare in plain sight. The Commandant and his peasant wife - just look at the way Sandra Huller walks and holds her cutlery - have made good. Their two-storey house and blooming garden impress her mother on her visit, which nonetheless is cut short when the furnaces operating next door become too much for the old woman. The family resides beside to a living hell and the parents almost manage to hold the recognition back in their pursuit of status and power.

The camera stays observant; the soundscape is constant and disturbing; the acting is extraordinarily normal in a completely abnormal world. We are given a matter-of-fact view of everyday life for the military elite of Nazi Germany, going about their horrific business, from commissioning the industrial-scale instruments of death to the euphemistic language used, the title being a chilling example.

The whole effect of this exceptional film is powerful in its quietly terrifying subtlety. Making a high-pitch sentimental drama out of these events would only distract from their normalisation at the time. The Zone of Interest stays with you long after viewing.