Review of HBO's Big Little Lies: Forensic Psychiatry Perspectives
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Books and Media Review of HBO’s Big Little Lies: bella accuses Ziggy of choking her, Jane’s worst fear is realized as she dreads that Ziggy is violent like his Forensic Psychiatry father. She supports Ziggy’s innocence in front of Perspectives others but internally questions it. After a second in- Directed by Jean-Marc Vallee and Andrea Arnold. cident where Amabella is bitten and Ziggy is accused, Screenplay by David E. Kelley, based on the novel by Jane takes him to a child psychologist, who assesses Liane Moriarty. HBO. First episode of Season 1 aired him and believes Ziggy is innocent. Despite the psy- February 19, 2017. chologist and Ziggy’s proclaimed innocence, Ama- bella’s mother, Renata (Laura Dern), remains skep- The HBO series, based on the novel Big Little Lies by tical. Renata is the antithesis to Jane. She is a Liane Moriarty, is renowned for its star-studded cast. powerful, materialistic business executive who is try- Winner of eight Emmy Awards, the show does a ing to find the balance between a career and moth- remarkable job of taking us on an emotional roller erhood. Overly dramatic at times, Renata threatens coaster. The novel is set in an upper-class coastal Ziggy after Amabella is choked, and then has a birth- suburb in Australia,1 whereas the HBO series takes day party for Amabella, inviting every first grader place in picturesque Monterey Bay, California. Both except Ziggy. retrospectively tell the story of a community ravaged Celeste Wright (Nicole Kidman) is a lawyer by a traumatic event (spoiler alert!): the suspicious turned housewife and is the envy of others for the death of Perry Wright, played by Alexander Skars- ease with which she controls life. Likewise, her hus- gård. The show takes a slow-burn approach, jumping band Perry Wright is an attractive and powerful busi- between an unclear ending and its origins. Inter- ness executive. Both Celeste and Perry are apparently jected between transitions is comical hearsay during loving parents to twin boys, Max and Josh. Behind police investigations from community members who closed doors, however, Celeste and Perry are fre- were only distantly related to the main plot. quently violent with each other. Perry is controlling From the beginning we are introduced to five fam- and jealous, transitioning from loving husband to ilies: the Mackenzies, the Wrights, the Chapmans, savagely beating Celeste in a matter of seconds. The the Carlsons, and the Kleins. Each family has a child violence typically moves from physical to sexual, entering the first grade. The conflict begins on the leading to rough sex or potentially rape. They engage first day of school when little Amabella Klein is in a vicious cycle of intimate partner violence, sex, choked by another student. Initially reluctant to re- gift giving for reparations, and then more violence. veal the perpetrator, Amabella eventually accuses He attempts to strangle her, an important risk factor Ziggy Chapman. Taken aback, Ziggy adamantly de- for later intimate partner homicide.2 Aware of the nies the accusation. This immediately splits the par- trauma this could cause their children, they do their ents, the Chapmans versus the Kleins. As the school best to keep the violence hidden. They decide to see year unfolds, a series of petty attempts among the a couple’s therapist. When Celeste sees the couple’s parents to alienate each other plays out. While the therapist alone, who tells her to leave, Celeste queries central plot plays out, Big Little Lies also touches on the therapist’s ethics. Eventually Celeste grows tired bullying, heritability of violence, posttraumatic stress of the abuse and develops a plan with their therapist disorder, and intimate partner violence perpetrated to leave Perry. She gets an apartment and will move by both men and women. out while Perry is away on business, but Perry dis- As the story line transitions back and forth, we covers Celeste’s plans to leave just prior to Trivia witness the development of five main characters, Night. starting with Jane Chapman (Shailene Woodley), As Celeste is planning to leave Perry, we learn who is the socioeconomic outsider and only single Ziggy is not the violent first grader. It is Max Wright, mother. Struggling with a traumatic past, we see Jane copying the actions of his father toward his mother. worry about the heritability of violence in relation to In another Trivia Night twist, we learn Perry is the her son, Ziggy Chapman (Iain Armitage), a sweet, person who raped Jane (and thus is Ziggy’s father). likeable kid. Despite his demeanor, Jane constantly Perry, seemingly unfazed by Jane’s realization, is fo- observes Ziggy for violent tendencies because Ziggy cused on Celeste. As they publicly argue at the Trivia was the product of a vicious rape. Thus, when Ama- Night, Perry physically attacks Celeste. Madeline, 140 The Journal of the American Academy of Psychiatry and the Law Books and Media Jane, and Renata rush to Celeste’s rescue, but Perry of intimate partner violence displayed in Big Little fights them off and continues to beat Celeste. Bonnie Lies is situational couple violence. Rather than be- Carlson (Zoe Kravitz) rushes over and pushes Perry ing a chronic problem and predominately male- off, and he topples over a rail, falling to his death. perpetrated, situational couple violence is an emo- Battered women’s syndrome and imperfect self-de- tional response to conflict that at times becomes fense may come to mind. physical.3 It is exhibited at similar rates between In an act of unity, the five women report that males and females. Renata demonstrates this when Perry lost his balance and accidently fell. The novel she hits her husband, verbally degrades him, and de- ends with Bonnie turning herself into the police and stroys his game and train room. Better conflict reso- receiving community service. In contrast, while lution is needed, even in idyllic Monterey. HBO’s first season ends with Perry’s death, season The unifying themes of Big Little Lies are relation- two is a keeping of the secret. We learn Bonnie has a ships and the heritability of violence versus environ- personal history of physical abuse, and we watch her mental contributors to violence. We see Jane and decompensate and struggle with the lie. Likewise, we later Celeste worry about the influence of Perry’s watch the other four women struggle to work violent tendencies on their children. These themes, through the trauma. Celeste undergoes a child cus- played out by excellent actors, will likely interest tody battle with Perry’s mother, Mary Louise Wright many forensic psychiatrists. The show grapples with (Meryl Streep). During that battle, Celeste’s intimate questions of ethics for a couples’ therapist in situa- partner violence history is discussed in open court, as tions involving risky intimate partner violence, child are her allegedly Ambien-induced behavior and am- custody in intimate partner violence cases, Ambien nesia. Jane attempts to date again but finds intimacy and amnesia, and indirect aggression. difficult. Finally, Renata’s husband is arrested for stock fraud and insider trading, forcing them into References bankruptcy. 1. Moriarty L: Big Little Lies. New York: Berkley, 2014 In Big Little Lies, multiple typologies of intimate 2. Glass N, Laughon K, Campbell J, et al: Non-fatal strangulation is partner violence exist. For the Wrights, Perry uses an important risk factor for homicide of women. J Emerg Med 35:329–35, 2008 coercive-controlling violence, where the main ten- 3. Kelly JB, Johnson MP: Differentiation among types of intimate ants are power and control. Perpetrators of this type partner violence: research update and implications for interven- are predominantly male and use a mixture of physi- tions. Family Court Rev 46:476–99, 2008 cal, emotional, and sexual abuse to control their vic- Chandler Hicks, DO tim. The response to coercive-controlling violence by Susan Hatters Friedman, MD the victim is often violent resistance, another form of Cleveland, Ohio intimate partner violence.3 Displayed by Celeste, she Disclosures of financial or other potential conflicts of interest: None. often meets Perry’s violence with violence. This is viewed as a potential means of survival. A final form DOI:10.29158/JAAPL.003936-20 Volume 48, Number 1, 2020 141.