Big Little Liesis a dark comedic drama series on HBO about three mothers of first-graders, whose seemingly perfect lives unravel and escalate into murder. The series starsReese Witherspoon, Nicole Kidman,Shailene Woodley, Alexander Skarsgard, Laura Dern, Adam Scott, Zoe Kravitz, James Tupper, Jeffrey Nordling, Meryl Streep, and more. The series was created by David E. Kelley, directed by Jean-Marc Vallée, and Andrea Arnold, based on Liane Moriarty’s bestselling book of the same name. Although originally billed as a miniseries, it aired from February 2017 to July 2019, concluding with a total of two seasons and 14 episodes. The series earned nominations and 25 awards from the American Film Institute Awards, Golden Globe Awards, Primetime Emmy Awards, Critics' Choice Television Awards, and more.
Big Little Lieshas become notable for its depiction of abuse and trauma presented in a way that has never before been seen on TV. Kidman’s and Skarsgård’s characters, Celeste and Perry, share a tumultuous relationship that appears perfect on the outside, but is consumed with violence on the inside. While the show conveys various forms of deception, the most important aspect of cultural conversation is the nuanced depiction of domestic violence that remains hidden. Here’s a deeper look into howBig Little Liesshowed an important focus on abuse and trauma, and the overall impact of the TV series.
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Inspiration & Development
The inspiration for the story of the novel Big Little Lies was derived from life events encountered by the author.Moriarty said, “But the real impetus… is a radio interview I heard in which a woman was talking about how her father had abused her mother, the trauma of it. Towards the end of the interview, she described returning home as a grown woman and going to hide under the bed when her parents began to argue. Everything that that signified about the kind of childhood she’d had spoke to me. I wound up using that scene in this novel.”
Big Little Lieswas published in July 2014, and less than a month after it was published, it was announced that Kidman and Witherspoon had optioned the screen rights to Moriarty’s novel.Witherspoon said, “Reading the novel for the first time, I saw myself at different stages of motherhood through my life… It explores so many aspects that are relatable to the lives of women; it wasn’t about them being good or bad — they showed every spectrum and every color of women’s lives. It presented a unique opportunity to have so many incredible parts for women in one piece of material.”
In the first episode of season one, “Victim of Love'' by Charles Bradley feat. Menahan Street Band is played, introducing Celeste and Perry as a happy family with their twin boys, who are classmates of each mother’s child. The song lyrics convey the dynamics between the couple and reference the victimization of partners in abusive relationships who are conflicted with intense feelings of love and hatred for each other. Testimonies are featured next from the parents of the twins’ classmates, who are in an interrogation room answering questions for police about how the couple always appeared to be perfectly in love. The internal and external depictions of Celeste and Perry display how the occurrence of domestic violence in a relationship is often unrecognized by others.
On filming the intense domestic violence scenes, Kidman said, “There was one point when [director Jean-Marc Vallée] wanted to go back and re-shoot me being slammed into the wardrobe because it wasn’t hard enough… I’m like, ‘I’ve got bruises because of how hard it was, so I can’t believe that it didn’t read that way.’ But as we all know, on film sometimes what you’re feeling doesn’t read. I felt my way through the character.”
Throughout the first season, the conflict of interest among parents and teachers at the school involves a female student being choked and bitten by a male student in the classroom. This underlying storyline occurring between the children depicts abuse between genders beginning at a young age and is a projection by the children of what is happening between their parents, who they are reflections of. The male student in class who was physically abusing his female classmate was one of Celeste and Perry’s twin boys. Although Celeste believed she had sheltered them from the domestic violence that was happening in their home, the abuse was absorbed by their children as how to treat a female. The storyline accurately depicts the recurrence of abuse by victims.
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Characters & Themes
The dynamics between each of the main characters are also revealed through the testimonies of the student’s parents answering questions about a foreshadowed murder that the storyline leads up to. Jane and Celeste first connect when Jane shares that she feels out of body, living a seemingly perfect life that does not belong to her, while Madeline doesn’t understand them. Their connection represents the dysfunctional link between them and Perry. The mothers eventually all become intertwined through different events that happen throughout the school year, and bind together at an end-of-the-year event, when protecting Celeste from being attacked by Perry.
The first season concludes with each mother being held under interrogation for the suspected murder of Perry. In the first episode of season two, Celeste has flashbacks to season one, then wakes up in her new apartment with her children and mother-in-law, Mary Louise,portrayed by Streep. Throughout season two, each mother’s grief over Perry’s death is expressed in different ways, and is depicted in their physical appearances, behaviors, and emotional outbursts. The show’s writers also included Celeste’s memories of sentimental moments shared between her and Perry to convey the trauma experienced by abuse survivors and the complicated emotions of grief.
Witherspoon said, “I think a big theme of the show is shame, and what we feel shamed about, and how do we resolve that? Think about these women who are so connected, and very best friends, and we never tell each other our true shame.” To which Oprah Winfrey responded, “… Which [shame] is at the root of all the abuse. Everybody thinks that it’s about the act itself, but it’s about the shame that you carry. And, how that shame then shaped you, which is so wonderful about Big Little Lies is that you get to see how the shame has shaped everyone.”
