Julie Delpy’s new Netflix show On The Verge is a tale of determination. In all of her recent press interviews, Delpy (who created and stars in the show) speaks of how hard it was to get off the ground. She told The New York Times that financiers and studios were reluctant to talk about a show based around women of a certain age, but she kept at it. The result: A strong and absurdly funny story about four best friends in their 40s and 50s (a group still highly unrepresented on screen). Currently trending on Netflix, the show seems to resonate with audiences hungry to see something that is still surprisingly out of the ordinary.
Here are your five screenwriting takeaways from Delpy’s ‘On the Verge.’
1. The art of Julie Delpy’s walk and talk. Delpy has made a career out of the walk and talk slice of life type of little film that gets a small, but vehement fan base; perhaps most quintessentially exemplified in Richard Linklater’s Before Sunrise trilogy, in which she starred with Ethan Hawke. Delpy crafted all three scripts with Linklater and Hawke, resulting in Oscar®-nominated work for screenwriting. When Delpy strikes out on her own, however, she often gets to be more bitingly comedic, and sometimes even more sarcastic and pessimistic (maybe it’s the French in her). Either way, it’s a delight to behold. Throughout On the Verge, Delpy’s character, Justine, a very successful chef, is struggling to write a recipe book. In an opening voiceover that's both reminiscent of Sex in the City and a send-up of the famed voiceover itself, Justine muses on the emptiness inside her, but the musing soon simply turns into the contemplation of her own butthole. It’s hysterical and Sarah Jessica Parker likely would never be caught dead typing up something similar which is part of what makes it so great.
2. Honest screen time for women is still a fight. As one may guess, this show does not mince words when it comes to women and aging. Anxiety, mental health, deteriorating partnerships that were supposed to be forever, strained relationships with sons on the cusp of teendom, and sex as a middle-aged woman (or complete lack thereof) are all addressed in the show. Delpy said her own motto for writing the piece was “50 is not the new 30.” Delpy finally found a producing partner for the project in Olivier Gauriat, who was also involved in this year’s extraordinary Annette. Gauriat came on because he was a fan of Delpy and wanted to see what she would do with the carte blanche reign Netflix often gives creators.
3. The comedy of the absurd. Delpy’s Justine is an anxiety-ridden, sex-starved, talented chef, and it is fun to see the star that exploded through an undeniably male gaze put her own female gaze upon herself. Stand-out moments are not only the hysterical, cerebral, and often dystopian voiceover Delpy has written for Justine’s recipe book, but also episodes where Delpy loses her sense of taste — and equally her mind — and a masterful dinner party where Justine hops back and forth between French and English, eventually becoming a narrator for her friends so they don’t miss out on dinner party drama with an old French friend of her uptight husband’s. The show isn’t afraid to delve into a heightened, absurd tone at times, but in the end, aging and life itself are equally so, and that feels like exactly the point.
4. The power of female friendship. Delpy has also created four unique and distinct women. No one feels like a trope or a stereotype. Each has a unique struggle and point of view. Not to mention there is a subtle commentary on socio-economic status and what happens when you and long-time friends are no longer on the same plane of earned income — in Delpy’s world you find yourself accidentally on purpose giving a blow job for money, as does Alexia Landeau’s very fun character of Ell. The friend group of Ell, Justine, Yasmin (Sarah Jones), and Anne (Elizabeth Shue) bonded during the turn of the Millenium; a huge time of being on the verge. Now, they are still together as they face down the dawning of a pandemic like the modern world has never known. The show is not only ultimately about friendship, but it’s a lovely time capsule of the moment before the world changed not just for these friends, but for everyone.
5. The theme of change. For a show with a title like On the Verge the theme of ‘change is constant’ feels about right. Even when characters find themselves thinking the last thing they want is a complete change to the current lives they are leading, Delpy instantly throws more change right at them, whether it be a divorce, the realization of infidelity, the revelation that doing right was actually doing wrong, or simply trying to break a bad habit. Of course, constant change is a great recipe for comedy as comedy does not exist without conflict, and in the experienced hands of Delpy, the monumental changes these women face are very entertaining to watch.
Final Takeaway: Delpy and her crew of strong women still trying to figure it all out regardless of age is a fun, captivating and hysterical watch. This is a show that is clearly aware of the phrase ‘hysterical woman’ and its answer is yes, women have every right to be hysterical, because isn’t sometimes surviving the day exactly that? Viewers who love slice of life content through a unique, strong female perspective will delight in Delpy’s world.