Fans of Normal People, the hugely successful BBC adaptation of Sally Rooney’s novel about young hapless lovers, are already mouthing the possibility of the author’s new novel hitting the screens this week.
Conversations With Friends, a 12-episode drama directed by director Lenny Abrahamson and co-writer Alice Birch and based on Rooney’s 2017 novel, opens Sunday night at 10 PM on BBC Three, but has yet to sell out to all critics in the country. .
Marianka Swain of The Telegraph gave the series five stars, which saw ex-couple Frances and Bobbi have a confusing relationship with writer Melissa and her boyfriend Nick, while Nick Hilton of The Independent gave the show a more caustic rating, citing it was so slow. gave. How to continue the late Captain Tom’s charity work.
The BBC wants to emulate the success of Normal People; Published during the block, Connell and Marianne’s story garnered 62 million views on iPlayer. The stars, Paul Mescal and Daisy Edgar-Jones, soon became famous on both sides of the Atlantic.
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Conversations with Friends premieres this week on BBC Three, and discusses how ex-couple Frances and Bobbi fell in love with writer Melissa and her boyfriend Nick. Picture from left: Bobbi (played by Sasha Lane), Nick (played by Joe Alwyn), Frances (played by Alison Oliver) and Melissa (played by Jemima Kirke)
Despite the promise of a spicy ménage à quatre, reviews for the 12 tracks were mixed. The Telegraph suggested it was a “sensational successor” to Normal People, while The Independent called it “sleepy”.
In the drama, Millennial couple Nick and Melissa are seduced by art student Frances (centre) and ex-girlfriend Bobbi.
Critics gave mixed reviews and many consider it a success and better than normal people of 2020
Conversations with friends may still win over TV viewers, but some critics weren’t so enthusiastic.
Nick Hilton of The Independent wrote: “While it is undoubtedly slow, solipsistic and smug, the show has an ambient appeal. A television designed to be seen out of the corner of your eye while browsing Instagram and viewing strangers on two screens at once.”
Marianka Swain of The Telegraph disagrees and writes: “The creative group led by director Lenny Abrahamson and co-writer Alice Birch has reunited and re-released their winning format: 12 half-length extremely versatile episodes. . Communicate everyone’s loaded feelings through loaded silences, coded text messages, and intimate, authentic sex scenes.
And Ed Power of The Irish Times took it a step further and described him as “superior” to normal people, writing: “He seems more important than normal people. Rooney fans will eat it. For everyone else, wow a prestigious television version of Dublin.” factor, though empty and raw, will certainly bring their delights with it.
Here, FEMAIL shares a selection of Chats With Friends reviews so you can decide if it’s worth a look.
PHONE
Evaluation: 
Marianka Swain writes, “The team behind Normal People have teamed up to bring another soulful, sexy and complex work from Sally Rooney to the screen. Can the BBC’s second adaptation of Sally Rooney keep up with the Normal People frenzy? Well, if there is any justice, this sensational sequel should be just as big, if not greater, success.
Marianka Swain was a fan of the show before it aired on BBC Three on Sunday (Photo: Frances and Bobbi)
Sure, he’s not as lascivious as normal people, but that’s because we’ve left the teenage lust behind us. While Conversations with Friends (BBC Three) is actually Rooney’s first novel, it’s a much more complex and challenging premise. Frances (played by newcomer Alison Oliver) is a bisexual student at Trinity College Dublin who sings verbal poems with her ex-girlfriend, Bobbi.
A quartet ménage à quatre is a creative time bomb, and the results are exciting and constantly surprising.
EVENING STANDARD
Evaluation: 
Phoebe Luckyhurst writes: ‘As a novel, Conversations with Friends is extraordinary: intense; cerebral; policy; exciting; a silent show of force that invents a kind of painful imitation. Experiment with form and text; The characters have unconventional relationships. This update is a diluted version of it.
“The dialogue is sharp and the universe is beautiful, and while it’s often a bit too timid, the whole show is exciting at times. It feels long and a bit wide in all 12 episodes.”
UNDERGROUND
Evaluation: 
Metro’s Charlotte Manning says the chemistry is “okay” in the latest adaptation of Rooney’s work (pictured: Melissa’s character)
This is one of BBC Three’s top hopes for a imminent revival for 2022, writes Charlotte Manning, so it’s no surprise that the broadcaster recognized its importance in the success of Conversations with Friends.
The main four are great at chemistry, but Oliver and Alwyn shine like Frances and Nick, perfectly summarizing the frustration and deep emotional conflict in the moral dilemma of starting a relationship with the person you truly want. be together.’
RADIO HOURS
Evaluation:
Flora Carr opens Sally Rooney’s best-selling book “Conversations with Friends” with the sentence “Bobbi and Me” and our narrator introduces Frances as half a package: There is no Frances without Bobbi.
Similarly, the new, melancholy television adaptation of BBC Three and Hulu begins with two best friends sitting together as Bobbi reads aloud, their heads bowed to a new poem written by Frances.
Although ex-lovers who have been friends in most of the series are in love with each other, their love for each other and their unwanted relations of will constitute the cornerstone of the series.
INDEPENDENT
Evaluation: 
Nick Hilton writes: ‘The show has an ambient air, albeit undoubtedly slow, solipsistic and smug. A television designed to be seen out of the corner of your eye while browsing Instagram and looking at strangers on two screens at the same time.
Nick Hilton suggested: “A television designed to be seen out of the corner of your eye” (Photo: Bobbi played by Sasha Lane)
And if the prospect of a group of free-spirited millennials unraveling their lives at a pace closer to Mo Farah’s Captain Tom doesn’t excite you, there are plenty of close-ups kissing to finish you off. Guide.
The extension (or compression) issue is endemic in a new adaptation, but the pace of Conversations with Friends seems so indulgently sluggish that the environment (in both Ireland and Croatia) is so overwhelming and repetitive that its effect on it is at best . , hypnotic and worst hypnotic.
Conversations with Friends will air on Sunday, 15 May 2022, and will air on BBC One, BBC Three and BBC iPlayer for UK audiences. Viewers in the United States can watch the 12-episode series on Hulu.
Source: Daily Mail
