Olive Kitteridge features a tour de force performance by Frances McDormand. She is a cold, distant cantankerous school teacher who has had a 25 year marriage with Henry Kitteridge (Richard Jenkins) a kindly pharmacist in small town Maine.I doubt the marriage has been a happy one as she had an affair with a fellow teacher. They have a son Christopher who barely wants to be with his misanthropic mother. It seems Olive comes from a family with a history of mental illness. However she has to reassess her relationship with her husband when he falls ill due to a stroke and needs to care for him. Olive also tries to mend her relationship with her son but that proves to be more difficult.Some time later Olive wants to end it all herself but comes across a wealthy, drunk eccentric Jack Kennison (Bill Murray) and finally feels some tenderness.This is a slow burn series, well acted but at times it does feel like a slog.

HBO mini-series, Olive Kitteridge takes place in a small New England town. The story bases on a small town Mid-school math teacher's cross section life story of her 25 years. The interesting plot took my attention, having its humoristic and sarcastic semiotic as a tribute to the Olive Kitteridge character (Frances McDormand) contains sarcasm on its own personality. Olive and her husband live with their children. As a husband figure Henry Kitteridge (Richard Jenkins) approaches the nonsense acts of his wife (which wind the plot and making it both humoristic and sarcastic while telling her story) in an easy going and modest way. The situation that he faces is simple. Living with a hard woman, without her knowing that she is ruining her environment because of her desire of reaching the mathematical perfection in her personal life. The not cruel but annoying egoist life of Olive gave me the same impression she gives her husband and son. The snappishness creates the tease and humor at that point. Henry (her husband), Cristopher (her son), simultaneously give the feeling of distress they face and Olive's acts seem funnily annoying, both to them (Olive's environment) in the movie, and to us (the audience). And creates the catharsis of feeling the fury, pity and not to take her seriously with a glimpse to her behaviors.Emotions, for instance, feeling sorry for Olive, for not accepting the happiness, the love or, for wasting her time to be just perfect and critical until her elder age.The happiness seeker father's (Henry) sympathetic acts, giving the recipe of living the decent but content life, without thinking to run away from his hard-boiled wife and son. The funny parts of Olive's obsessed acts.And the naturally flowing expressions on the plot, such as natural death and getting old in a small town, the increase of the loneliness by being apart from children, losing the closest ones. Anger and tactless accusations of family members depicted in the some scenes of mother and son arguments.Yes, these emotions and plenty other everyday life feelings that we all live in our short life.The eclecticism of the sarcasm, the happiness, the obsessions, the funny moments. All of them are the human peculiar acts. And all of them are global, even you live in a countryside or in a big city. Olive Kitteridge teaches us to try to live every moment of our life in joy. Without giving up our duties or put ourselves in a hopeless position we should esteem our good life deserved rented bodies, by esteeming our spirits and the others around us.As a mini-series that has a narration that reflects the real-life human behaviors, both individually and cooperatively in such a short time, with great psychological analysed fixings, I must admit Olive Kitteridge has deserved the awards that it has reached so far. And maybe, could have win a few more.

While watching this, the first thing that popped into my head was how glad I am that I did not spend my adult life in a small town.The second thing I thought was how glad I am that I'm not married...at least to a woman like Olive Kitteridge.The third thing I thought was what a fine actor Richard Jenkins is. Despite what some people seem to feel, for a character actor, Jenkins has gotten a fair amount of acclaim...all well deserved.Frances McDormand is a very talented actress. But somehow I have yet to see her in a single film that I really liked. All I can say is that she has a strange taste in movie parts.Zoe Kazan as Denise Thibodeau was interesting as a slightly odd young lady.There are films in which Bill Murray impresses me. This is not one. He just seems to be walking through the part.John Gallagher is a young actor that impresses me each time I see him, and he does here.One segment which I felt was particularly well done was where Kevin Coulson returns from being a medical student in New York City, and is contemplating suicide, which Olive realizes, and she prevents it from happening. Very effective segment showing the difficulty of mental illness.I have to admit that I don't quite understand the purpose of the hospital terror scene. It just seems out of place. But, this isn't exactly a film with a script, per se.I'm not sure I understand the purpose of this film. Is it to show that a mean-hearted woman got the life she deserved? If so, it succeeded. It was very slowly interesting to watch...once...but I would have no interest in watching it again. 4 hours was too much. Needed some distinct editing.

While I agree that the characters are well drawn and the acting is incredible, what an epic and crushing downer. There's absolutely an art to the technical aspects of the program, but why would anyone want to see tragedy upon tragedy, heartbreak after heartbreak, pain on top of pain. Not to say "happy endings" are always the answer, but homeless people seem to have it better than this lot. Granted, I'm sure there are some life lessons here but I don't need to spend my time getting my feelings hurt by a freaking TV show - and because this IS well made that is what they want to happen. I do not see the upside. Grasping the appeal of this kind of teleplay is befuddling, perhaps more than the miniseries itself. I saved myself a lot of sad hours watching uncaring, annoying negative people zombie through hardship and adversity by skipping this rest of this maudlin cry fest. A special thanks to Rich Muller from Berkeley, California - his review was spot on and allowed me to put my time to better use. Perhaps those hours could be spent improving the world instead of reveling in all it's tragedy. Maybe that's the lesson for me here.