Not all is well in the house of the good Mr. Henrickson, or rather in three cozy houses of middle class in a respectable area of Salt Lake City, from the street seemingly separate, and inside connected by a common courtyard, with swimming pools, barbecues and other infrastructure of a large family. Bill Henrickson (Bill Paxton) is a polygamist Mormon. And in each of the three houses lives one of his three wives. Mr. Henrikson himself lives everywhere, or nowhere, wandering every day from one wife to another to give another spouse love, affection, the feeling of a strong shoulder, well, another child.
Since polygamy is illegal in Utah, where the entire family lives, as well as in America in general, the Henricksons have to hide, or rather not advertise their strange relationship in public. Moreover, Bill himself - a respected member of the community, the owner of two large stores - must guard his face and reputation.
So they wander through life and on the series - Bill, his legal "public" and official wife Barbara (Jeanne Tripplehorn), second wife Nicoletta (Cloé Sevigny) and the third Margin (Jennifer Goodwin), solving problems, fighting off the cube of crooked relatives from a polygamist rural community, trying to nail the preacher - charismatic Roman Grant (part-time father of his second wife Niki), confronting a tight-knit family cell of anxiety and the outside world.
A very specific series on a very specific topic. It would seem that you can squeeze out of immersion into the depths of a limited sect of Mormon polygamists, of which there are only a couple of tens of thousands of people and who live in the far from the most noticeable Mormon state of Utah? However, it was enough for four seasons of very high-quality and rich cinema.
Polygamists themselves consider themselves the true bearers of the covenant and teachings of the prophet-founder of the Mormon religion Joseph Smith, who, according to rumors, had several dozen wives. Subsequently, the main branch of Mormons moved away from the observance of this rather controversial idea and polygamists broke away from the “tree of the church” and remained in the form of rural communities, with an extremely closed and regulated life. "Big Love" in no way hides the sharp and unpleasant moments that a closed and sectarian community can demonstrate. But in general, an attempt is made to unbiasedly show the problems of polygamistic life, with their pros and cons, and to show a fascinating story.
The sacramental song, “If I were a Sultan, I would have three wives.” After watching the series, I came to the same conclusion as Nikulin. If I were a sultan, I would be single. I don't know how on-screen Bill handles such a bunch of responsibilities, a dozen kids, a job. Every woman needs the same amount of attention and respect. Given the fact that he has to roam from house to house every day, this is not an easy thing. Each of the three wives receives it every three days and has time to accumulate strength, desire and grumpyness by the next visit. But poor Bill does his best in work and in bed without a weekend. A desperate attempt to insist on one "personal" day a week is shattered, stumbling upon cohesive opposition and resentment from all his spouses. And to relax with the help of alcohol, cigarettes or weed religion does not allow.
On the other hand, such a large family is mutual help, support, and love. In the house there is a division of duties between spouses, children, in fact, are brought up by everyone, and are brought up perfectly if there are difficulties in the family, despite the constant small squabbles instantly rally.
The plot of the series is both simple and complex. All four seasons, Bill Henrickson solves a variety of family problems, fights and tries to bring to the twenty-first century the swamped rural polygamist community, where he himself comes from, fights off the brutal attacks of the head of this community Roman Grant and his semi-mafia clan, tries to conduct and develop business, goes into politics to expose the problem of polygamy in public discussion. And of course, religion occupies a significant place in the series - almost all the characters desperately believe in their purpose, Mormon ideas, seek the blessings of heaven, preach. This does not prevent them from stealing, killing and deceiving. There is a constant struggle for the post of head of the community, the Prophet.
The strongest plus of the series is casting. The actors are great and everyone feels and plays their part. That Bill himself with his wives, children and relatives. That rival Grant family. Grants are just something special - each is a collection of vices, selfishness, a desperate lust for power, charisma. Especially notable are Roman (Harry Dean Stanton), his son Alby (Mat Ross) and daughter, and Bill Henrickson's wife Nicky (Sevigny). Bill Henrickson himself is depicted perfectly, but only painfully strong in his eyes sometimes flashes longing from the whole heap of worries and tasks.
What to say in conclusion – a strong psychological series with great actors, describing a fascinating but little-studied topic. The only thing – as I understand, the very idea of the series was to tell ordinary Americans that terrible “polygamists” are also people, as well as to encourage the polygamists themselves to “come out of the closet”, to open up to the world, as the main character himself does in the end. That's just a rather sad denouement of "Great Love" is not very this "openness to the world" contributes. I'd rather be quiet.
10 out of 10