The Woman in the House Across the Street from the Girl in the Window is the brilliant new dark comedy thriller miniseries that has earned a spot in the Top 10 of Netflix‘s most-watched series. Between subtle humor and manic madness, a mystery unfolds with the disturbing shades of a hallucination.

The Woman in the House Across the Street from the Girl in the Window – Plot

The Woman in the House Across the Street from the Girl in the Window. (L to R) Kristen Bell as Anna, Nitya Vidyasagar as Hillary in episode 104 of The Woman in the House Across the Street from the Girl in the Window. Cr. Colleen E. Hayes/Netflix © 2021

Amidst broken dishes and heartbreaking visions, Anna drowns her sorrows in wine and stares out the window at the world when an attractive father catches her attention. Who is the new neighbor? And what happened to that girl with the blood-covered neck she saw from the window? A killer wanders around, and Anna is more determined than ever to find the truth. Hers can’t just be hallucinations, something real and cruel is happening.

Preview

Anna‘s bourgeois life is turned upside down forever. Something destroys the harmony of her family, relegating her to being that shell of bitter depression that is struggling between pills and huge goblets of wine. A lonely woman who cannot overcome her trauma.

On the other hand, a father and daughter who have just moved into the house opposite, ready to give life a new chance. But there is something about these new neighbors that disturbs the placid stasis into which Anna has fallen.  Neil ignites her interest again, along with that sweet little girl, Emma, ​​who reminds her so much of her daughter.

Among the shades of bitter memories, painful visions, and delusional hallucinations, The Woman in the House Across the Street from the Girl in the Window drags the audience into a whirlwind of madness, so much that it becomes difficult to discern reality from imagination.

Review

The Woman in the House Across the Street from the Girl in the Window. Kristen Bell as Anna in episode 104 of The Woman in the House Across the Street from the Girl in the Window. Cr. Colleen E. Hayes/Netflix © 2021

Anna was a painter, Anna was a wife and mother of a family. Anna is now just a drunkard who is afraid of the rain. The past can hurt and it seems truer than the present: this is the nightmare into which Anna has fallen for the past three years.

Nothing can bring her life back to her, nothing seems to really keep her attached to the present. And so the living room window becomes her mirror on the world; it is from there that, observing the neighbors, she lives life through others, now that she no longer has one to live in the first person. And it is through that window that Neil, the new neighbor, draws her interest. But it is always from that same window that, right in Neil’s house, she sees a murder taking place.

Could it have been just a hallucination? Or did Lisa, Neil’s girlfriend, really die before her eyes? Nobody seems to believe Anna’s words, especially due to alcoholism and the lack of evidence in her favor. Has she really hit rock bottom? Could her mind be capable of imagining such real scenes? Anna begins to doubt herself and then, as a good reader of detective books, she chooses to investigate.

Therefore, the veiled humor, the shadow of crime fiction, and the inner drama of the protagonist create the perfect blend for an original and explosive miniseries. Made up of just eight episodes lasting 25 minutes each, The Woman in the House Across the Street from the Girl in the Window is a show set in the real world that is expertly tinged with absurd and macabre.

The Woman in the House Across the Street from the Girl in the Window. Samsara Leela Yett as Emma in episode 101 of The Woman in the House Across the Street from the Girl in the Window. Cr. Colleen E. Hayes/Netflix © 2021

Without taking itself too seriously, The Woman in the House Across the Street from the Girl in the Window enters the world of mystery with the intention of making fun of all those thriller novels that open the door to shocking endings in order to continue the story. This is why the miniseries itself displaces the audience with a shocking ending that turns the situation upside down again: have Anna’s eyes seen reality, or have they followed the delirious thrill of the imagination?

Personal opinion

Born as a miniseries, destined to end in a single season, this show has all the potential to push itself into a second season with new mysteries to solve for the intrepid Anna. Veiled with an ironic lightness, it does not exceed too much in the thriller and unrolls a story full of twists, ambiguous characters, and a complicated past.

It is like being on a swing that oscillates dangerously between hallucination and reality. Moreover, for a character like Anna, the choice could not fall on anyone other than Kristen Bell, perfect in this role. This is a fresh, innovative miniseries, which perhaps would have deserved a little longer episodes.

In conclusion, it captured me a lot and I would be happy if it was so successful that it created a second season. This miniseries is light and humorous just enough, without falling excessively into the vulgar; it is thriller enough to spark the interest of the public, without becoming too dark and heavy. In my opinion, not to be missed!