Review by C.J. Bunce
Disturbing. It’s the best description for eight-episode Australian TV series The Clearing, a psychological thriller about the impact of a cult that began in the 1960s on the lives of children kidnapped for its membership. It’s based on a novel by J.P. Pomare, a fictionalized account of the leader and survivors. It’s a thriller in the same mold as The Bridge and White House Plumbers, the former for the breathlessness viewers will feel as the fates of two children hang in the balance until the last episode, and the latter because of the re-creation of the era and the frenetic actions of its protagonist.
The thoroughly creepy, compelling, disturbing story is carried out by some exceptional performances, notably Miranda Otto (Chilling Adventures of Sabrina, The Lord of the Rings) as cult leader Adrienne Beaufort, Teresa Palmer (The Sorceror’s Apprentice) as Freya aka Amy, the grown-up oldest daughter of the cult, Hazem Shammas (The Twelve) as Joe Saad, a cop who follows the case his entire career, and Erroll Shand (The Shannara Chronicles, Mystery Road, Harrow, The Cult), as Henrik Wilczek, another key member of the cult.
At first look the series looks like it qualifies for the horror sub-genre of “creepy little girls” (and boys)–the kids in the cult have their hair dyed blonde and they look straight out of the possessed kids in Village of the Damned. It’s a not-so-subtle visual element in the show that contributes to the creepiness, but the kids are the victims in this horror story. Young Julia Savage turns in a particularly sharp performance as Amy, the young incarnation of the series protagonist and driver of the plot. She’s a manipulated kid, forced to kidnap an even younger girl and groom her for her role in the cult. By the time she grows up into the character played by Teresa Palmer, she is the worst kind of wreck.
Known in her adulthood as Freya, Palmer’s character loses her first child by simply being improperly trained for any aspect of life once she’s free from the cult. By the time she has a second child, she is both haunted by her past and further manipulated into secretly remaining an enabler of Miranda Otto’s cult leader. The Clearing is as good as any fictionalized attempt to mirror the kind of psychopathic leader that was Jim Jones or David Koresh. In one episode the series takes viewers back to the full story of how Adrienne Beaufort turned from a maid to a mystic and business leader with more than $80 million secreted away. Otto is in one scene a vibrant, charismatic, empowered teacher and the next a cold-hearted devil willing to sacrifice a child’s life to keep her plans in order.
Teresa Palmer plays the beaten down single mom part like you’ve never seen it before. She looks at times like she was robbed of days of sleep before stepping in front of the camera. When the script calls for her being worried, viewers will believe she’s worried, and when she’s frightened you’ll be there right alongside with her. The one-two punch of Palmer and Otto will keep you coming back for more, even if the story doesn’t seem strong enough to support eight hours of screen time.
The supporting cast includes a myriad of creepy roles for its players, including Guy Pearce (L.A. Confidential, Bloodshot, Prometheus), Kate Mulvany (The Great Gatsby) as a key henchwoman in the cult, Harry Greenwood (son of actor Hugo Weaving) as Freya’s brother, and Xavier Samuel (Twilight: Eclipse) as a bent cop. But the backbone of the show is the storyline of Hazem Shammas’s police detective Joe Saad. Joe begins as a young cop fiercely pursuing a missing girl. Once he pulls Amy/Freya out, he becomes a lifelong friend, but becomes one of those cops that gets too close to the case and ruins his marriage in the process. Score another one for the “cop on a boat” trope. He’s an incredible, noble character, and his transformation from his earliest appearance to the present day is a great feat for the television makeup crew.
With the great pacing, twists, and thrilling bits in the script, the scene changes are unfortunately disjointed and often difficult to follow. You can’t always tell when the scenes have shifted from present to the past and further back to the distant past and forward again. By episode four the characters have been established enough that you can follow just because a blonde kid means it’s the early days of the cult and if Palmer is in the scene, it’s the present. But the shifts could use some kind of title device to make it more straightforward for the viewer. The fact this is based on real events also means viewers won’t get as satisfying ending as you’ll be hoping for. Otto’s performance brings a Stepford Wives-era aura that warrants a similar ending.
The result is less of a mystery, and more real-life horror, cloaked in a costume drama package. Among Aussie fare, it’s another strong entry along with Mystery Road, Troppo, Picnic at Hanging Rock, and Glitch, better than The Gloaming, and maybe even toward the top of the pack with last year’s series Deadloch. Yet it’s also that kind of a story that falls in the camp of British series Marchlands, Lightfields, The Secret of Crickley Hall, Dublin Murders, The Five, The Missing, Thirteen, and Broadchurch—shows from the British Empire spend more time on drama with stories of kids in peril than in U.S. series. But viewers will no doubt find this psychological drama compelling TV viewing. If you liked the tension of the 2023 series Payback, then The Clearing may be for you. The Clearing is now streaming on Hulu.
