Sexual obsession is well-worn territory for Erotic Thrillers, a subgenre that often features men who think with their libido rather than their brain. When you spend your life thinking about screwing, it tends to screw with your life.
This is the central premise of Josephine Hart’s 1991 novel Damage, which was transformed in the 1992 film of the same name, and, most recently, was adapted into the four part Netflix series Obsession.
In both adaptations, a wealthy, powerful, middle-aged married man becomes sexually obsessed with his son’s new girlfriend. They begin an affair, and the sexual desire costs the man everything: his job, his marriage, and the life of his son, who dies tragically when he falls over a banister after witnessing his father fucking his fiancé.
What’s interesting about both Damage and Obsession is how both texts adopt the tropes of an Erotic Thriller, albeit by substituting criminal or murderous activity for melodrama.
This is the central premise of Josephine Hart’s 1991 novel Damage, which was transformed in the 1992 film of the same name, and, most recently, was adapted into the four part Netflix series Obsession.
In both adaptations, a wealthy, powerful, middle-aged married man becomes sexually obsessed with his son’s new girlfriend. They begin an affair, and the sexual desire costs the man everything: his job, his marriage, and the life of his son, who dies tragically when he falls over a banister after witnessing his father fucking his fiancé.
What’s interesting about both Damage and Obsession is how both texts adopt the tropes of an Erotic Thriller, albeit by substituting criminal or murderous activity for melodrama.
- 5/30/2023
- by Joe Lipsett
- bloody-disgusting.com
Netflix’s miniseries “Obsession,” as the name suggests, is all about an affair that becomes so passionate so quickly that things around the couple start derailing as they speak. They become so involved with each other that they forget the norms of society and why they should not be with each other at any cost. An affair so dangerous that it would ruin the very fabric of their family. Will the affair get out of hand, or will it be smooth sailing for the couple involved in it?
Spoilers Ahead
How Did The Affair Begin?
Dr. William Farrow is a well-known pediatric surgeon who has made quite a name for himself in the city of London for separating a set of conjoined twins. He lives a hectic life but is surrounded by his lovely wife, Ingrid, and children, Jay and Sally. As a family, all four of them are tightly knit,...
Spoilers Ahead
How Did The Affair Begin?
Dr. William Farrow is a well-known pediatric surgeon who has made quite a name for himself in the city of London for separating a set of conjoined twins. He lives a hectic life but is surrounded by his lovely wife, Ingrid, and children, Jay and Sally. As a family, all four of them are tightly knit,...
- 4/15/2023
- by Smriti Kannan
- Film Fugitives
In Obsession, Netflix’s new Bdsm thriller, the chaos begins when femme fatale Anna Barton starts giving sex eyes to her future father-in-law. “Is that for me?” she breathes, before he erotically pops an olive into her mouth. This, by the way, is the first time they’ve spoken. I was nervous when I met my boyfriend’s dad for the first time, but at least I didn’t do anything that weird.
This is the problem with this adaptation of Josephine Hart’s 1991 novel, later made into a film in 1992 starring Jeremy Irons: it wants to gird our loins, but often it just makes us giggle. Obsession has been hailed as the successor to Fifty Shades of Grey, but instead it gives us an overload of shlock, foreboding string music and some depressing, grunty shagging.
Richard Armitage plays William, the horny dad in question who is also an important and brilliant surgeon.
This is the problem with this adaptation of Josephine Hart’s 1991 novel, later made into a film in 1992 starring Jeremy Irons: it wants to gird our loins, but often it just makes us giggle. Obsession has been hailed as the successor to Fifty Shades of Grey, but instead it gives us an overload of shlock, foreboding string music and some depressing, grunty shagging.
Richard Armitage plays William, the horny dad in question who is also an important and brilliant surgeon.
- 4/14/2023
- by Jessie Thompson
- The Independent - TV
Warning: contains major spoilers for the Obsession finale.
Netflix’s Obsession changes the ending of the Josephine Hart novel Damage, from which it was adapted, by choosing to shift the story’s focus away from the male lead and onto the character of Anna Barton.
The TV series ends with Anna (Charlie Murphy) starting therapy, having decided to stop her destructive cycles and work through her traumatic past with a counsellor. In the final scenes of the series, she phoned her friend Peggy to say “I need you”. Peggy helped Anna away from her London flat in which she’d conducted the affair with Will and where her fiance Jay – Will’s son – had died, and away from Anna’s dysfunctional relationship with her mother. After Jay’s death, Anna’s mother revealed that she knew Anna was being incestuously abused by her brother Aston as a child, but did...
Netflix’s Obsession changes the ending of the Josephine Hart novel Damage, from which it was adapted, by choosing to shift the story’s focus away from the male lead and onto the character of Anna Barton.
The TV series ends with Anna (Charlie Murphy) starting therapy, having decided to stop her destructive cycles and work through her traumatic past with a counsellor. In the final scenes of the series, she phoned her friend Peggy to say “I need you”. Peggy helped Anna away from her London flat in which she’d conducted the affair with Will and where her fiance Jay – Will’s son – had died, and away from Anna’s dysfunctional relationship with her mother. After Jay’s death, Anna’s mother revealed that she knew Anna was being incestuously abused by her brother Aston as a child, but did...
- 4/13/2023
- by Louisa Mellor
- Den of Geek
Remember when everyone was obsessed with the book “Fifty Shades of Grey.” The frenzy was such that people could not wait to see the on-screen adaptation of the same. The movie was average, but it created a fan following for a certain type of cinema, and ever since, a lot of cinema and television shows based on the same subject have come out that explicitly talk about a relationship that crosses the line. “Obsession” is a Netflix Original Miniseries directed by Lisa Barros D’sa and Glenn Leyburn and released on the platform on April 13, 2023. The show is all about an affair that happened between two people that might change their lives for the better.
The show begins with Dr. William Farrow, a well-known London-based pediatric surgeon who is known for successfully separating conjoined twins. After a long day at the hospital, all Will wants to do is spend some time with his wife and kids.
The show begins with Dr. William Farrow, a well-known London-based pediatric surgeon who is known for successfully separating conjoined twins. After a long day at the hospital, all Will wants to do is spend some time with his wife and kids.
- 4/13/2023
- by Smriti Kannan
- Film Fugitives
To celebrate Netflix’s seductive new limited series, ‘Obsession,’ an exclusive erotic boutique pop-up will be opening in the heart of Soho.
The series is a contemporary adaptation of Josephine Hart’s 1991 novella, Damage, and centres around a dangerous love triangle that emerges when the enigmatic Anna Barton (Charlie Murphy) embarks on a passionate affair with her fiancé’s father, William (Richard Armitage), a top surgeon.
In the story, Anna reveals her red leather-bound diary to William – a place where she keeps her deepest secrets and divulges sexual desires she and William explore in their affair through Bdsm. The erotic boutique will be an immersive experience bringing visitors into Anna’s world of play, whilst inviting them to give up their own secret anonymously in ‘Anna’s diary’; in exchange, they will be rewarded with a luxury product available within the boutique.
Actors dressed as Anna will enhance the experience,...
The series is a contemporary adaptation of Josephine Hart’s 1991 novella, Damage, and centres around a dangerous love triangle that emerges when the enigmatic Anna Barton (Charlie Murphy) embarks on a passionate affair with her fiancé’s father, William (Richard Armitage), a top surgeon.
In the story, Anna reveals her red leather-bound diary to William – a place where she keeps her deepest secrets and divulges sexual desires she and William explore in their affair through Bdsm. The erotic boutique will be an immersive experience bringing visitors into Anna’s world of play, whilst inviting them to give up their own secret anonymously in ‘Anna’s diary’; in exchange, they will be rewarded with a luxury product available within the boutique.
Actors dressed as Anna will enhance the experience,...
- 4/13/2023
- by Zehra Phelan
- HeyUGuys.co.uk
Obsession is a series starring Indira Varma and Charlie Murphy. It is based on the novel by Josephine Hart.
A dark-looking, good thriller story that, pretending to look daring, doesn’t take too many risks after all. However, it knows how to play the dark thriller at times (not always) and, in its irregularity, serves as a good piece of entertainment for fans of the genre.
About the Series
There are times when, on a blind date or in a movie, you have to know what you want and where you’re going. In other words, be clear about things. Obsession is a British series that, almost like a TV movie, pretends to go to the dark side of life, deep down, like in a Lou Reed-style but unwillingly to look at the David Lynch-side of things.
Woven with a deep moralistic tone, it is a film that...
A dark-looking, good thriller story that, pretending to look daring, doesn’t take too many risks after all. However, it knows how to play the dark thriller at times (not always) and, in its irregularity, serves as a good piece of entertainment for fans of the genre.
About the Series
There are times when, on a blind date or in a movie, you have to know what you want and where you’re going. In other words, be clear about things. Obsession is a British series that, almost like a TV movie, pretends to go to the dark side of life, deep down, like in a Lou Reed-style but unwillingly to look at the David Lynch-side of things.
Woven with a deep moralistic tone, it is a film that...
- 4/13/2023
- by Veronica Loop
- Martin Cid - TV
In Obsession, Netflix’s new Bdsm thriller, the chaos begins when femme fatale Anna Barton starts giving sex eyes to her future father-in-law. “Is that for me?” she breathes, before he erotically pops an olive into her mouth. This, by the way, is the first time they’ve spoken. I was nervous when I met my boyfriend’s dad for the first time, but at least I didn’t do anything that weird.
This is the problem with this adaptation of Josephine Hart’s 1991 novel, later made into a film in 1992 starring Jeremy Irons: it wants to gird our loins, but often it just makes us giggle. Obsession has been hailed as the successor to Fifty Shades of Grey, but instead it gives us an overload of shlock, foreboding string music and some depressing, grunty shagging.
Richard Armitage plays William, the horny dad in question who is also an important and brilliant surgeon.
This is the problem with this adaptation of Josephine Hart’s 1991 novel, later made into a film in 1992 starring Jeremy Irons: it wants to gird our loins, but often it just makes us giggle. Obsession has been hailed as the successor to Fifty Shades of Grey, but instead it gives us an overload of shlock, foreboding string music and some depressing, grunty shagging.
Richard Armitage plays William, the horny dad in question who is also an important and brilliant surgeon.
- 4/13/2023
- by Jessie Thompson
- The Independent - TV
This four-part Netflix series isn’t the first time that Josephine Hart’s 1991 novel Damage has been adapted for screen. In 1992, celebrated French director Louis Malle made a feature film of Hart’s book that welcomed Jeremy Irons, Juliette Binoche, Miranda Richardson, Peter Stomare and Rupert Graves to this exploration of erotic obsession. The film earned Richardson a Best Actress nomination among many others at that year’s Academy Awards.
This serialised version was created by playwright Morgan Lloyd Malcolm with writer Benji Walters, and directed by Ordinary Love, Good Vibrations and Cherry Bomb‘s Lisa Barrow D’Sa and Glenn Leyburn, updates the action to the modern day and remoulds the characters somewhat. Richard Armitage plays successful surgeon Will, husband to Ingrid and father to Jay and Sally, while Charlie Muphy’s character Anna Barton is expanded to explore her response to the fallout of the story’s scandalous central affair.
This serialised version was created by playwright Morgan Lloyd Malcolm with writer Benji Walters, and directed by Ordinary Love, Good Vibrations and Cherry Bomb‘s Lisa Barrow D’Sa and Glenn Leyburn, updates the action to the modern day and remoulds the characters somewhat. Richard Armitage plays successful surgeon Will, husband to Ingrid and father to Jay and Sally, while Charlie Muphy’s character Anna Barton is expanded to explore her response to the fallout of the story’s scandalous central affair.
- 4/13/2023
- by Louisa Mellor
- Den of Geek
Netflix has debuted the trailer for the seductive four-part limited series about erotic obsession and forbidden desire, ‘Obsession.’
A contemporary adaptation of Josephine Hart’s novella, Damage, the story centres around a dangerous love triangle that emerges when the enigmatic Anna Barton embarks on a passionate affair with her fiance’s father, William. Whilst Anna fights to sustain both relationships, William is drawn into an obsessive spiral. But how long can they keep their secret hidden before someone gets hurt?
Created and written by Morgan Lloyd-Malcolm, the cast includes Richard Armitage as William; Charlie Murphy as Anna; Indira Varma as William’s wife Ingrid; and Rish Shah as Anna’s fiance Jay. Also starring Pippa Bennett-Warner, Sonera Angel (Red Velvet Revolution), Anil Goutam (Andor), and Marion Bailey (The Crown).
Also in trailers – “Wouldn’t you agree, that was quite reckless?” Trailer drops for ‘One Ranger’
The series is coming to...
A contemporary adaptation of Josephine Hart’s novella, Damage, the story centres around a dangerous love triangle that emerges when the enigmatic Anna Barton embarks on a passionate affair with her fiance’s father, William. Whilst Anna fights to sustain both relationships, William is drawn into an obsessive spiral. But how long can they keep their secret hidden before someone gets hurt?
Created and written by Morgan Lloyd-Malcolm, the cast includes Richard Armitage as William; Charlie Murphy as Anna; Indira Varma as William’s wife Ingrid; and Rish Shah as Anna’s fiance Jay. Also starring Pippa Bennett-Warner, Sonera Angel (Red Velvet Revolution), Anil Goutam (Andor), and Marion Bailey (The Crown).
Also in trailers – “Wouldn’t you agree, that was quite reckless?” Trailer drops for ‘One Ranger’
The series is coming to...
- 3/29/2023
- by Zehra Phelan
- HeyUGuys.co.uk
The Hobbit star Richard Armitage and Peaky Blinders’ Charlie Murphy are leading a three-part Netflix UK erotic thriller about obsession and desire from Gaumont and Moonage Pictures.
Unveiled at a London event this evening by Netflix VP Scripted Content Anne Mensah, Damage also stars Obi-Wan Kenobi’s Indira Varma, Strangers’ Rish Shah and Chloe’s Pippa Bennett-Warner.
Adapted from Josephine Hart’s novella, the three-parter centers on a dangerous love triangle that emerges when the enigmatic Anna Barton (Murphy) embarks on a passionate affair with her fiancé’s father William (Armitage). Whilst Anna fights to sustain both relationships, William is drawn into an obsessive spiral.
2022 Netflix Pilot & Series Orders
Morgan Lloyd-Malcolm and Benji Walters are writing, with Glenn Leyburn and Lisa Barros D’Sa directing. The series is produced by Gina Carter. Moonage’s Matthew Read and Frith Triplady, and Gaumont’s Alison Jackson are executive producers.
The commission is Moonage...
Unveiled at a London event this evening by Netflix VP Scripted Content Anne Mensah, Damage also stars Obi-Wan Kenobi’s Indira Varma, Strangers’ Rish Shah and Chloe’s Pippa Bennett-Warner.
Adapted from Josephine Hart’s novella, the three-parter centers on a dangerous love triangle that emerges when the enigmatic Anna Barton (Murphy) embarks on a passionate affair with her fiancé’s father William (Armitage). Whilst Anna fights to sustain both relationships, William is drawn into an obsessive spiral.
2022 Netflix Pilot & Series Orders
Morgan Lloyd-Malcolm and Benji Walters are writing, with Glenn Leyburn and Lisa Barros D’Sa directing. The series is produced by Gina Carter. Moonage’s Matthew Read and Frith Triplady, and Gaumont’s Alison Jackson are executive producers.
The commission is Moonage...
- 3/17/2022
- by Max Goldbart
- Deadline Film + TV
IMDb.com, Inc. takes no responsibility for the content or accuracy of the above news articles, Tweets, or blog posts. This content is published for the entertainment of our users only. The news articles, Tweets, and blog posts do not represent IMDb's opinions nor can we guarantee that the reporting therein is completely factual. Please visit the source responsible for the item in question to report any concerns you may have regarding content or accuracy.