One Year Ago, BBC Released One of the Most Unusual Dramas That Scored 91% on RT
A fascinating project about a mysterious sound heard by several people.
The British series The Listeners is based on the novel of the same name by Jordan Tannahill, published in 2021. The author adapted his own text for the television project.
The first two episodes premiered at the Toronto Film Festival in 2024, and this is far from the most typical project.
What Is The Listeners About?
Claire is a high school teacher. She is happily married to her husband, Paul. The couple is raising a high school-aged daughter, Ashley. The measured life in the suburbs collapses when Claire begins to hear a strange hum.
Headphones with music can temporarily suppress the sound, but the teacher cannot sleep, work, or do her usual things. Neither her husband nor her daughter hear anything and do not fully believe Claire.
The woman happens to find out that the noise in her ears is also bothering high school student Kyle. The teacher and the student go to a community of the same people who are prevented from living normal lives by the noise.
The Listeners Is Full of Metaphors
In The Listeners, the noise and the nature of the strange phenomenon should be understood as a metaphor for a problem that one has to deal with without the help of loved ones.
A serious illness becomes a test not only for the sufferer, but also for his or her loved ones. In The Listeners the authors deliberately leave as much room for interpretation as possible, so that the noise can be understood in any way.
The noise in Claire's ears is an important part of the plot; the story begins with this noise. However, as time goes on, it becomes clear that the creators of the show will not answer the question of where the phenomenon comes from.
The Listeners Has an Intriguing Premise
Anomalous sound phenomena have been recorded in nature in different cities and at different times. The noise in her ears makes Claire stand out from the crowd, but is it a gift or a curse? Perhaps the teacher is now speaking to the earth at frequencies that are unfamiliar to ordinary people?
Or is it the nearby factories that regularly pollute the environment? Or is Claire having a nervous breakdown or an existential crisis?
The Listeners Is an Auteur's Project That Does Not Answer All the Questions
The creators of the British series ask interesting questions and create a tense and surreal situation that is interesting to talk about. However, watching the project can hardly be called easy.
Fans of shows in which all intriguing moments are resolved at the end and there are no mysteries left will be disappointed. The Listeners is an auteur film in a multi-episode format and one of the most unusual series of 2024.