At one point this would have interested me [no spoilers, please]
This was an interesting alert. (Leaving my language vague in case you are avoiding spoilers.) It’s weird b/c I remember when Michael Fassbender did it. Does it have the shock value now? Or is it just par for the course?
Me + Richard Armitage 
it would shock me, so thanks for the warning! the more I read about this show the more apprehensive I am to watch it. I was definitely intrigued at first, wondering how Richard would do in that type of role, but now I’m afraid that the tone of the film will not be what I was expecting.
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I haven’t read any reviews, but just the headlines of the alerts are extremely negative.
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I’ve had an Google alert today with an headline asking if that was really him and laughed my a** off – things I thought I never read as an RA fan 😀
Not sure if it still is as shocking as when Fassi did it though.
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Yes, it feels like the media world is much more tolerant of these things now.
As far as “things I thought I would never read” — if Angie / Fedoralady were still with us, she’d be having a field day about the reactions of what she used to call the ABC: Armitage Biddy Committee.
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I have to admitt I was a bit disappointed when I’ve read the headline of the Daily Fail – such a boring choise of words. Shouldn’t the Yellow Press be much more colorful when it comes to something like this? 😉
SO true, she would have loved taking the mickey out of this in her own gracious southern way and I’d loved reading her postings. Gosh, I miss her voice in the Fandom!
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I was just remembering Angie and thinking that she would be having a field day with this one. What a funny, kind, lovely person she was.
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i find this to be very disappointing.
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It’s a weird choice to make when you’re 51.
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Truthfully, except for one “blink and you miss it” scene, Mr. A’s manhood is not on full display. However, the nude scenes are shot in such a way that there is a definite suggestion of what area of the body is just out of full view. This may be what the article you site refers to. Low lighting helps obscure details in at least one scene, and in others we see Richard from behind (no pun intended) or at other angles he’s been filmed at before. I was struck not so much by the nudity but by the way the sex act itself was portrayed. Most encounters were, how shall I say it, more vigorous and vocal than we’ve seen or heard from him before. Bondage played less of a role than I expected, but more aggressive acts intended to inflict pain (hair pulling being a milder form) received more screentime. There’s no denying that Obsession marks a new level of “exposure” for Richard. How it is accepted by critics and viewers only time will tell.
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I may continue waiting …
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I don’t think I’d be shocked. But intrad there’s a scene he’s humping a pillow. Haven’t seen it and don’t think I will. A pillow? It’s a no from me.
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A pillow? Sorry but I can’t get the vision of a randy Labrador our of my mind! 😂
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huh. If I’m going to watch a man masturbate, I want to see his face.
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Don’t think i’d be shocked. I remember Viggo looking good naked in Eastern Promises. But I read there’s a scene where he jumps a pillow. And i sorry but…. Seriously!? It’s a no from me
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Just a quick comment before I head out the door for the day. I watched this in one sitting last night – episodes are of varying lengths so it didn’t take as long as I thought to see it out.
Sassenachlou sums it up very well in her comment above; full display of RA’s manhood is a “blink and miss it” moment, nothing like the Fassbender scene (if I’m thinking of the relevant one) and what is portrayed on Sex/Life (also on Netflix). I don’t think the intimate scenes outsexed those in Bridgerton either, so in all it was tamer than I expected after the buildup in the promo interviews. How life-destroying obsession can be was certainly the over-riding theme and it was done very well in that respect. Richard Armitage always plays the tortured soul extremely well.
As for the cushion scene, be assured William isn’t humping it! He seeks out Anna’s scent, finds it on the cushion and self pleasures which in itself may be difficult to watch. I felt more like a voyeur at that point than any other.
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Thanks.
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I’ve looked at The Cushion Scene again in case I’d missed something in all the frenzied action and my assurance was misplaced lol! Of course William’s movements are open to viewers’ interpretation but that cushion is definitely up at or near his face the whole time.
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I guess that’s a relief!
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I agree with Mezz. It was tamer than I expected. I guess after all the hype I was expecting more erotica. I thought the sex acts were quite animalistic: lots of rutting and grunting from Richard’s performance. Not particularly appealing to watch.
I thought the scene with the cushion was somewhat bizarre and mildly fetishistic. Richard must have been directed to pretend he was a blood hound in the way he searched for her smell on the bed; he really gave that cushion such a hard sniff. I was expecting him to start slobbering at the mouth too!
I think it’s a bleak story with no real redemptive story arc. The two lead characters have behaved apallingly resulting in terrible consequences to the innocent party. I think the real story is where the series ends: how the characters come to terms with what has happened and what they have done.
I thought the acting was generally good, particularly Charlie Murphy’s portrayal of Anna. I found the portrayal of the Farrow family as a mixed race family to be unconvincing and distracting IMO.
Looking forward to the gifs of Richard drying off after the shower scene! 😆
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blood hound: that’s just the kind of stage direction that you can kind of imagine him getting into.
distracting: how so?
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There was no physical resemblance at all between Richard and Rish Shah who played his son. They did not look like they were related so I found it difficult to buy into the father and son relationship as portrayed by them. It just jarred a bit on the screen.
That said, maybe there was never meant to be much of a father son bond between the characters given the apparent ease with which William commences an affair with his son’s girlfriend?
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Huh, okay. That’s not something I really pay much attention to most of the time. He doesn’t look all that much like any of the people who’s father he’s played iirc.
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Mr. no more topless ain’t him?
Sorry, I know I”m shallow but this is the only thing that can drive me to watch that thing
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the screen caps have been good, and in a way it’s kind of neat to see him with a somewhat more normal chest (as opposed to Porter or Lucas).
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I was weary before “Obsession” aired, with very good reason, it is awful! RA is the most unattractive man I have seen on screen, about to embark on an erotic love affair leading to the destruction of everything the family held dear, you would think the leading man would look desirable. He is strung out, tense and desperate. I cannot do more than episode one. I am sad to see one of my favourite actors after 20 years, end his career like this.
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I doubt this will negatively impact his career (perhaps it will not positively impact it). It’s been #5 in the US on Netflix all weekend.
I feel like whoever chose William’s clothing picked a color palette that just washes him out.
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Interested in the display, but not like I once would have been. Still, I watched and paused lol
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LOL!
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I thought Obsession was dreadful, and not because of the sex scenes, which were fewer, shorter, and less edgy than billed. (And yes, the RA full frontal lasts a mere nanosecond.) It was because of the flat, one-dimensional characters; the unconvincing root of the RA “obsession,” which seemed more of a mid-life sex addiction; and the absurd ending. The pillow scene was just bizarre and is being mocked on social media. The acting was poor (including, it pains me to say, RA’s, perhaps due in part to the lousy material). It was basically a long movie and it was a stretch to divvy it up into a “series.” The music was insanely cloying. I’ve always felt that any Netflix series RA does is good for his career because of the huge exposure (no pun intended in this case), but this did not capture his talents. I wonder if he’s more inclined to go in for anything Netflix for that reason (exposure) regardless of the quality. He looked great, with and sans clothes, but that only reminded me that I like him for more than the eye candy and that the more substantive side of him was woefully missing here. Anyway, two and a half hours I’ll never get back! Thanks for letting me get that off my chest!
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More reasons to stay off Twitter. I still haven’t watched it. I am sure I will at some point. I am wondering about Netflix, too, if that was the main motivator (or if he knew Indira Varma and Charlie Murphy were already cast and those were motivations — Murphy’s husband is an important British theatre director).
Anyway, I’m sorry about the loss of time. Hopefully there will be something new to watch soon.
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Hoping that you will find the time to watch O, soon. While my opinion matches that of most of the commenters above, I’ll say this: It scores high on sparking debate. 😬😁 I don’t think this will be career-damaging for RA, and I also can see why he was attracted by the show. But given the assertive way the makers (esp. the scriptwriter) promoted the show, I question their effectiveness in a) fleshing out the female main character, b) realistically (or at all) representing BDSM and c) creating a coherent and comprehendable storyline about the eponymous obsession. If you watch, I’d love to hear your thoughts.
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I’m sure I’ll watch it sometime. I’ve thought this week that maybe it would be better watched while fastforwarding through the sex scenes, since i guess they don’t say much. It did hit the US Netflix top 10 last week, I saw, although it seems to have disappeared now. (Checking that, I just saw there’s a new season of Indian Matchmaking! Which is probably also the worst kind of ethnocentric verging on racist drivel, but I admit that I have enjoyed the first two seasons.)
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We finished this last night – having watched an episode a night over 4 nights. I’m glad we stuck with it because in my opinion the last episode was the best and the only one where we really saw RA flex his acting muscles. Without giving spoilers I will say his best moments were when tragedy struck and when he was playing opposite Indira Varma. It made me realise how sub – par the rest of the performance was and why I had felt so frustrated by it.
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Thanks for this.
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