THE LETDOWN. Mothers, this Series is for You

The power lies in simplicity, which is why Alison Bell and Sarah Scheller did not endow the main character of The Letdown with any extraordinary trait. Audrey (also played by Alison Bell) has a child, a two-month-old infant. Simply and nothing more. Created for the Australian public broadcaster ABC, the series depicts her everyday life with little Stevie. The viewer joins the story at the very first meeting of a support group for newly minted parents.

Through this group, we learn how many shades of parenthood exist, especially motherhood. We meet Martha, a lesbian who insists on keeping her sperm donor at a contractually defined distance.

Sophie, a wealthy blonde with an immaculate Instagram feed. An unconventional couple, Ruben and Ester, in which he takes parental leave while she runs her own business with an iron hand. We watch Barb, a laid-back suburban mum, and Georgia, a feminist activist. Each episode of The Letdown presents a subplot tied to a character and her little one.

Yet the narrative remains focused on Audrey’s challenges.

To a woman in the postpartum period, they seem cataclysmic, though in the series they are portrayed with humour. Viewers will smile at scenes of lulling a baby to sleep in a car and wince at attempts at sleep-training. Audrey also suffers from chronic sleep deprivation, fraught relations with her in-laws, and a brain fog (a battle I myself continue to fight). The Letdown also addresses returning to work, where and how to breastfeed, church sacraments for a child with non-practising parents, and much more. With admirable directness, the creators highlight, across all episodes, the return to intimacy after childbirth.

The Letdown offers a truthful picture, though not excessively painful.

The creators spared us the empathically agonising scenes of childbirth, filthy nappies, and special effects of projectile infant vomit. Beyond its realistic portrayal of daily maternal issues, what struck me most were the faces. Imperfect and life-weary. Like in Aki Kaurismäki’s films, yet here full of emotion. Audrey’s protruding jaw, double chin, and under-eye bags do not render her unattractive—in fact, quite the opposite. She is a mother just like us, who constantly forgets to pack baby wipes (wait, where is the bag?) and dozes off sitting upright, yet she radiates an irreplaceable glow. Alison Bell’s expressive face works wonders in every scene, as do Duncan Fellows (her on-screen husband Jeremy) and Sarah Peirse (Audrey’s mother, Verity).

If the story in The Letdown seems predictable, it is because life writes it daily for many of us. From experience we know that repeatedly refusing offers of help with the baby ends in exhaustion-induced breakdown, and that, however trying, in-laws mean well. We observe Audrey’s problems—so familiar to us—from the outside. We laugh at them and experience catharsis. It is bold to name the series The Letdown, when in fact so much of the disappointment comes hand in hand with the euphoria of a newborn.

Mothers, this series is for you. You will smile and nod through many scenes. In the first episode there is one, particularly beautiful. When Audrey arrives at an elegant restaurant for her friend’s birthday—with Stevie in tow—her husband has of course forgotten her plans. After a visit dominated by the baby’s wails and a heartbroken Audrey on the bus home, she cries. I cried too, because we promise ourselves that motherhood will not affect our social lives, yet you know… Then Stevie looks up at her mother, smiles as if it understands.

It is a great thing to be a mother. It is a pity that only now do filmmakers recognise the potential in portraying parenthood through ordinary, everyday moments. It is well worth catching up on Netflix.