[Review] Landscapers (2021)| Olivia Colman | David Thewlis

[Review] Landscapers (2021)| Olivia Colman | David Thewlis | HBO

Landscapers (2021) is a British true crime black comedy drama miniseries created by Ed Sinclair. Written by Sinclair & Will Sharpe, and directed by Sharpe, and starring Olivia Colman as Susan Edwards, David Thewlis as Christopher Edwards, Kate O’Flynn as DC Emma Lancing,
Dipo Ola as Douglas Hylton, Daniel Rigby as DCI Tony Collier, Samuel Anderson as DC Paul Wilkie, Felicity Montagu as Patricia Wycherley, David Hayman as William Wycherley & Kathryn Hunter as Tabitha Edwards, Landscapers is based on the real-life murders of William and Patricia Wycherley in 1998.

THIS REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILERS

Landscapers (2021) Synopsis:

A devoted and mild-mannered British couple become the focus of an extraordinary investigation when two dead bodies are discovered in the back garden of a house in England.

Landscapers (2021) Review:

Olivia Coleman and David Thewlis… that’s all the reason I needed to give this one a shot. Realising that Will Sharpe (White Lotus Season 2, the guide from A Real Pain) co-wrote and directed this series added to my already high expectations.

And you know what? Landscapers delivered an experience that far exceeded my expectations.

Right during the opening shots, we’re told of Susan & Christopher Edwards’ conviction for the 1998 murders, and that they still maintain their innocence. What follows is an awkward phone call between Susan (Olivia Coleman) & Douglas (Dipo Ola) who’s on his way to provide legal representation. From there, we cut to Susan & Chris (David Thewlis) in France. They barely make ends meet. While Chris is struggling to learn French and crack a job interview, Susan is out buying old film posters at pawn shops. Clearly, Susan is the head-in-the-clouds dreamer of the couple, her scenes lit and treated like romantic films of old.

Chris, the rationalist, is desperate to provide for his family. So, he calls up his step-mother, Tabitha (Kathryn Hunter), to whom he confesses to having done ‘something stupid’. This one confession leads to a thrilling, emotionally charged, gut-wrenching story of one couple whose dark past slowly unravels in the most heartbreaking manner.

David Thewlis as Christopher Edwards & Olivia Coleman as Susan Edwards

The Emotional Burden Of Living

Emotionally, Landscapers will pull all the right strings and punch you in the gut in all the right places where it hurts the most. Psychologically, the show will give you nightmares.

From the opening itself, it’s clear that Susan and Chris are not your ordinary old couple. There’s something off about it.

Susan’s cheerful and bubbly facade quickly shatters into that of an emotionally unstable, frightened child when she learns that the cops are starting to look for them. Chris’s rationalism hides a cold-blooded calculatedness underneath that’s again a front for his inherent need to protect the fragile (Susan, in this case). All of these might seem like normal human tendencies, except that in this particular case, they led to some very inhuman acts.

Landscapers doesn’t present us with psychopaths or sociopaths. Instead, they show us regular human beings who’ve done what many would rationalise against. After all, the monsters in society didn’t always start out like that. And in some cases, they might not even be monsters, just humans who lost their way.

This humanising effect makes Landscapers a poignant watch. On the one hand, you want to root for this mild-mannered couple. After all, Susan was abused by her parents. She deserves her freedom. While the manner in which she got it wasn’t at all acceptable, the reasoning behind it makes complete sense. And just because something makes sense doesn’t make it alright.

Landscapers (2021) treads this difficult, complex moral line carefully and effectively. Never really taking sides, but brilliantly saying a lot through its treatment. And that’s my next bit of critique:

Cinematic Bliss, Filmy Delusions

How do you present the emotional frivolity of the protagonists’ psyches? By treating the show’s playground as a motley platform of genre-blending aesthetics. From Lars Von Trier’s Dogville, which adopts a black-box theatre minimalism to its art decor, to Gary Cooper Westerns, Landscapers adopts many different cinematic styles that are pertinent to the story.

When needed, Landscapers breaks away from the convention, having our characters walk between sets and preparing for shots before they’re played out on screen. A masterful piece of direction by Will Sharpe, if I may add, Landscapers goes above and beyond the conventions of TV storytelling to craft an experience that’s both memorable and moving.

A theatrical presentation of the interrogation, one of many stylistic choices of the show

If that’s not enough, the show is full of cinema paraphernalia. From Susan’s hoarding of old film posters, to Chris’ correspondence with the legendary French actor, Gerard Dépardieu, the importance of movies in this old couple’s lives plays a role not just in their escapist tendencies, but also in the film’s aesthetic in telling us their story.

As the investigation unfolds, we see colours slowly leave us. Most of the last episode unfolds in black and white. The only parts of colour then are what Susan imagines in her mind, and the scenes that pertain to the cops. Even the final shot of the show is a cinematic rendition of a dream/imagination that Susan used to conjure when looking out the window of her childhood home.

Landscapers truly is a masterpiece.

Landscapers (2021) Ending Explained

As the trial unfolds, it becomes apparent that Susan, in fact, didn’t shoot her parents. While not explicitly confirmed, it’s pretty evident that Chris shot and killed Susan’s parents. The testimony of the ‘brass casings’ turns out to be false, because the gun used doesn’t drop casings like that. As was clear from the opening shot of the first episode, the couple are sentenced to life imprisonment.

However, this whole episode unfolds through Susan’s eyes. And in her mind, this is a Western. Susan and Chris boldly fight off against chasing cowboys, but as their sentences are announced, she loses Chris. In her cell later, she imagines a bright light that opens her door, where Chris invites her out into the open. As they walk, we see a whole film crew and set preparing for the next shot. Susan and Chris mount a white horse and ride off into the sunset. The final shot mimics what Susan used to imagine in her childhood: a horizon with a horse’s silhouette running freely.

While the couple are convicted and imprisoned, the finale suggests that Susan’s deep imagination—her defence mechanism against life’s harsh realities—might have taken over to make life in prison just a tad bit more sufferable. Instead of feeling regret, remorse, or loss, she deludes herself into thinking of her love and her freedom. A heartwarming ending. Or, a sinister one that suggests how profoundly traumatised and broken Susan is.

Susan imagines the trial to be like the climax shootout in a Western film

While the couple are sentenced to life imprisonment, it’s worth wondering: what can society do to prevent such a scenario from repeating itself? Where have we as humanity failed?

Landscapers (2021) Worth Watching?

Yes. If not for the technical beauty and cinematic treatment that goes beyond genres, then for Olivia Coleman and David Thewlis’ masterful portrayal of the old, ageing couple with a dark past. Landscapers is a damn good watch.

Will There Be Landscapers Season 2?

No. At least, I hope not.

The story of Landscapers starts and ends with Susan & Chris, and that’s where it should end. If the studio or production house decide to make a spiritual sequel with a different cast and a different title, I would consider watching it if the same crew is behind its making. However, I believe Landscapers should remain what it is—a 4-episode mini series.