AGL 38.54 Increased By ▲ 0.97 (2.58%)
AIRLINK 129.50 Decreased By ▼ -3.00 (-2.26%)
BOP 5.61 Decreased By ▼ -0.03 (-0.53%)
CNERGY 3.86 Increased By ▲ 0.09 (2.39%)
DCL 8.73 Decreased By ▼ -0.14 (-1.58%)
DFML 41.76 Increased By ▲ 0.76 (1.85%)
DGKC 88.30 Decreased By ▼ -1.86 (-2.06%)
FCCL 35.00 Decreased By ▼ -0.08 (-0.23%)
FFBL 67.35 Increased By ▲ 0.85 (1.28%)
FFL 10.61 Increased By ▲ 0.46 (4.53%)
HUBC 108.76 Increased By ▲ 2.36 (2.22%)
HUMNL 14.66 Increased By ▲ 1.26 (9.4%)
KEL 4.75 Decreased By ▼ -0.11 (-2.26%)
KOSM 6.95 Increased By ▲ 0.10 (1.46%)
MLCF 41.65 Decreased By ▼ -0.15 (-0.36%)
NBP 59.60 Increased By ▲ 1.02 (1.74%)
OGDC 183.00 Increased By ▲ 1.75 (0.97%)
PAEL 26.25 Increased By ▲ 0.55 (2.14%)
PIBTL 5.97 Increased By ▲ 0.14 (2.4%)
PPL 146.70 Decreased By ▼ -1.70 (-1.15%)
PRL 23.61 Increased By ▲ 0.39 (1.68%)
PTC 16.56 Increased By ▲ 1.32 (8.66%)
SEARL 68.30 Decreased By ▼ -0.49 (-0.71%)
TELE 7.23 Decreased By ▼ -0.01 (-0.14%)
TOMCL 35.95 Decreased By ▼ -0.05 (-0.14%)
TPLP 7.85 Increased By ▲ 0.45 (6.08%)
TREET 14.20 Decreased By ▼ -0.04 (-0.28%)
TRG 50.45 Decreased By ▼ -0.40 (-0.79%)
UNITY 26.75 Increased By ▲ 0.35 (1.33%)
WTL 1.21 No Change ▼ 0.00 (0%)
BR100 9,806 Increased By 37.8 (0.39%)
BR30 29,678 Increased By 278.1 (0.95%)
KSE100 92,304 Increased By 366.3 (0.4%)
KSE30 28,840 Increased By 96.6 (0.34%)
Life & Style

Apple TV+ thriller 'Surface' explores control and conservatorships

Published July 27, 2022
British actress Gugu Mbatha-Raw and US actress Reese Witherspoon attend Apple TV+'s "Surface" New York Premiere at The Morgan Library on July 25, 2022 in New York City. Photo: AFP
British actress Gugu Mbatha-Raw and US actress Reese Witherspoon attend Apple TV+'s "Surface" New York Premiere at The Morgan Library on July 25, 2022 in New York City. Photo: AFP

LOS ANGELES: 'Surface,' Apple TV+'s latest glossy thriller starring Gugu Mbatha-Raw as an amnesia sufferer, tackles "zeitgeist" issues of conservatorships and female autonomy, its creator and cast told AFP.

Mbatha-Raw, best known for 'Belle,' 'Loki' and 'The Morning Show,' plays Sophie, a woman with severe memory loss from a purported suicide attempt, trying to piece her life back together.

She is placed under the conservatorship of her husband - soon suspecting he may be hiding details about her former life, and questioning if he truly has her best interests at heart.

Apple faces £750mn lawsuit over iPhone software update

Conservatorships - a form of legal guardianship, in which a court hands control of finances and even personal decisions to a guardian - surged into the public eye last year as pop star Britney Spears fought to have hers terminated.

"The idea of a conservatorship was very much in the zeitgeist at the time, but that was almost coincidental," said Mbatha-Raw.

While "Sophie's trajectory is very specific to our show... the idea of control and the idea of women having their own autonomy I think is such a topical and ever-present theme in the world today."

By chance, the cast shot a scene in which Sophie confronts her husband, played by Oliver Jackson-Cohen, the same day Spears succeeded in ending her father's control of her finances.

"Those power dynamics between people are always rife for drama," said Veronica West, the series' creator and director, previously known for 'High Fidelity' and 'Ugly Betty.'

"This show really started out with this central question of 'what would you do if you woke up one day and didn't know your own secrets?'" she explained.

Sophie "wakes up and she only knows her life from what other people tell her," West said.

"Even the people closest to her - her husband, her friends - everybody has an agenda.

"So they're all painting this narrative with their own agenda in mind and molding her to be the Sophie that they want her to be."

Produced by Reese Witherspoon's Hello Sunshine company, 'Surface' - streaming on Apple TV+ from Friday - explores the dramatic potential of amnesia, following the likes of 'Memento,' 'Mulholland Drive,' 'The Bourne Identity,' and 'Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind.'

But, West said, its San Francisco setting and psychological twists were inspired more by noir classics, such as the works of Alfred Hitchcock.

"I would never dare to compare it to 'Vertigo,' but we did try to put a few little winks and nods in there to it," she said.

Comments

Comments are closed.