Is Obsession on Netflix a remake?

By Louie Fecou - April 15, 2023 (Last updated: September 18, 2024)
is-obsession-on-netflix-a-remake
By Louie Fecou - April 15, 2023 (Last updated: September 18, 2024)

Is Obsession on Netflix a remake? We discuss the 2023 series Obsession and whether the TV show is a remake. This article may contain spoilers.

The Limited Netflix series Obsession is raising the temperature of viewers enjoying this psychological drama starring Richard Armitage and Charlie Murphy.

The show is a steamy thriller that some viewers compare to classics such as Jagged Edge and Basic Instinct. It is very binge-able for various reasons.

Now, between scenes of Richard Armitage’s bottom, gyrating on hotel room beds, there is a somewhat familiar plot involving a dangerous love triangle. Still, people are beginning to wonder one question, and this unashamed pillow-sniffing article is here to answer it. Is Obsession on Netflix a remake?

What is Netflix’s Obsession about?

One definition of ” obsession ” is “an idea or thought that continually preoccupies or intrudes on a person’s mind.” This is an excellent way to introduce the series, as it follows a respected surgeon William Farrow, played by Richard Armitage, who becomes infatuated with his son’s fiancée Anna (Charlie Murphy). He starts risking everything to embark on a dangerous affair with her regardless of the damage and danger that his actions cause.

If his son Jay, played by Ms. Marvel’s Rish Shah, or his wife Ingrid Indira Varma, were to discover what is going on, the repercussions would be very destructive, tearing down William’s life, career, and family.

Although this may be a story as old as time, the drive and focus of the story come from the complex nature of the relationships between the leads and the lengths they go to as the plot unfolds.

Is Obsession on Netflix a remake?

Yes. Technically it is. It turns out that Obsession was actually filmed all the way back in 1992 with Jeremy Irons and Juliette Binoche, but it was not a TV show but a theatrically released movie Titled Damage, there are a few slight differences, but the main plot is the same.

In Damage, Irons plays the lead role, and the character Anna is played by Juliette Binoche. The screenplay hits many of the same beats as the TV series, so it seems that the show’s makers would have looked at the movie very closely.

Obsession can be regarded as a remake, but it has been developed as a TV series and not another film.

Is Netflix’s Obsession based on a book?

Yes. Obsession is based on a 1991 novel called Damage by Josephine Hart. The book is “narrated” by the lead, played on screen by Irons and Armitage, and, of course, the core of the story is the affair between the character and his son’s enigmatic girlfriend.

The book is more of a novella, coming in at an easily digestible 195 pages, and was published in the UK by Chatto and Windus and in the US by Knopf.

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