[The Lost Flowers of Alice Hart Prime Review] The story is good, the visuals are beautiful, but the pacing is slow…
The Lost Flowers of Alice Hart
Summary
Overall, it’s a series with many excellent aspects. The storyline delves into the hidden wounds and secrets of a woman who has suffered from the actions of men, and it has significant repercussions on the lives of the next generation. Having Sigourney Weaver in a key role handling the secrets of the story is exceptionally well done. The beautiful flower scenes and landscapes of Australia in the filming make it look like a documentary. The only downside is that the plot unfolds very slowly, sometimes excessively so, and the stark contrast between the child and adult actors can make the continuity a lacking.
Overall
7/10User Review
( vote)Pros
- Adapted from a famous novel.
- The story is full of mysteries.
- Sigourney Weaver stars.
- Beautiful visuals in an artistic style.
- Addresses the issue of violence against women.
Cons
- The storytelling is very slow-paced.
- The actors’ performances as children and adults are quite different.
The Lost Flowers of Alice Hart The Amazon Prime Video series, based on the popular novel of the same name, consists of 7 episodes. When Alice, aged 9, tragically loses her parents in a mysterious fire, she is taken to live with her grandmother June at Thornfield flower farm, where she learns that there are secrets within secrets about her and her family’s past. Set against Australia’s breath-taking, natural landscape, and with native wildflowers and plants providing a way to express the inexpressible, this enthralling family drama spans decades.
The Lost Flowers of Alice Hart Review (No Spoilers)
The series from Australia features Sigourney Weaver as the main character, but she is not the direct protagonist. The main character is named Alyz Hart, according to the title of the series. This series tells her mysterious life story from childhood to adulthood, with the first 3 episodes depicting her childhood at the age of 9, portrayed by Alyla Browne. The following 4 episodes focus on her adulthood, played by Alycia Debnam-Carey. The story of her childhood and adulthood are quite different. The childhood part is set in a small town far from a flower farm and includes a mysterious fire incident and her subsequent loss of voice. There are intense family scenes throughout these 3 episodes, and the story is quite mysterious, leaving many small mysteries unexplained. The adulthood part is about Alice journey to different places to uncover various secrets and encountering new life experiences outside the flower farm. However, her life seems to circle back to the childhood experiences again.
The storyline is divided into two separate narratives, but there’s a character named June, portrayed by Sigourney Weaver, who serves as a bridge connecting all the characters in the story. June is the character who holds all the secrets of the story, even though her role may not be as prominent as Alyz’s. She also has shades of a villainous character but is intriguing throughout the series because this is also her story.
The various mysteries all stem from wounds of the past, which led her to establish a flower farm with female workers who carried emotional scars from past abuse by men. This place serves as both a sanctuary and a healing ground, where the story weaves together numerous enigmas through the wounds of June, who appears outwardly as a strong woman (and lesbian as well) but might not be what she seems to be in reality.
The series uses flowers and local plants as metaphors for various narratives, expressed through a language of flowers that the characters on the farm understand. The beautifully crafted set design, along with the stunning landscapes of Australia captured in exquisite lighting, elevates this series to another level. It is truly a masterpiece and stands out as one of the top-tier series on Prime.
However, despite many strengths, this series also has its drawbacks. It is a very slow-paced narrative, for instance, requiring viewers to watch until the end of episode 2 to fully grasp some of the mysteries. The series is laden with numerous mysteries, but the storytelling is exceptionally slow, which can make it feel somewhat tedious. It’s not a series that is suitable for viewers seeking fast-paced excitement, that’s for sure
One problematic aspect is that the actors when they were children and when they were adults are very different. Although there was an effort to make them look alike, it turned out to be peculiarly distinct. The child actors had better roles, including without dialogue, and they portrayed the abused children well enough to evoke sympathy from the audience. However, as the story transitioned to their adult lives, they became entirely different individuals, with personalities that seemed disconnected from their childhood characters. While it can be understood that this stemmed from June strict and controlling upbringing, and the initial secrets that made her appear to have escaped her home instantly, the tone of the story then swung back to her encountering intense romantic involvement with a man she fell in love with quickly. This made the latter part of the story quite predictable, except for the hidden secrets, though not excessively so. This resulted in a much simpler ending compared to introduction, which started with a more intriguing house fire event that left the family’s fate.
Overall, it’s a series with many excellent aspects. The storyline delves into the hidden wounds and secrets of a woman who has suffered from the actions of men, and it has significant repercussions on the lives of the next generation. Having Sigourney Weaver in a key role handling the secrets of the story is exceptionally well done. The beautiful flower scenes and landscapes of Australia in the filming make it look like a documentary. The only downside is that the plot unfolds very slowly, sometimes excessively so, and the stark contrast between the child and adult actors can make the continuity a lacking.