Janicza Bravo on Rebecca Hall starrer ‘The Listeners’

There won’t be more seasons of Rebecca Hall BBC series “The Listeners,” says director Janicza Bravo. But don’t worry – it’s a good thing.

“I think that miniseries or limited series are a great gift. ‘Make more!’: that’s the American model. But there’s something so sexy about saying it’s just this,” she tells Variety.   

Over the course of five episodes, – Claire (Hall) keeps hearing a weird humming noise. It drives her insane, but here’s the problem – no one else, including her family, can hear it. 

“That’s exactly why I liked it. I’m intrigued and excited by individuals who exist in a reality that’s not real to everyone else,” says Bravo about the show listed among Variety’s Hot Picks back in May.  

“It has definitely happened with girlfriends of mine who have certain medical conditions or feel there are things happening to their bodies which were dispelled by doctors. Medicine doesn’t always buy a woman’s story. I could cite examples of when something felt very true to someone but no one believed them. You need validation and you are met with rejection.”

In the show, produced by Element Pictures, owned by Fremantle – and set to broadcast on BBC One and BBC iPlayer – Claire lives a happy life: she likes teaching and enjoys her family life. There’s no reason for her to go through this ordeal, or maybe there is? 

“The body keeps score, I’ve heard,” notes Bravo, who “had the bonus” of reading the novel by Jordan Tannahill the show’s based on. 

“Claire talks about moving to the suburbs, even though she always felt like a city girl and a bit of a rebel. She found herself in this life that was really her husband’s life, then had children – life just happened to her. She has a lot of things we are told are meant to equate to a happy life and yet it still feels it’s not enough.” 

“I wanted to scratch the surface around that thing. How does fulfilment arrive and what’s the shape of it? Is this sound real or is it a manifestation of a life not fulfilled? It can be both.” 

Also, Claire’s not exactly alone: there are others in her community, including her student, plagued by the exact same condition. Some of them have been hearing “the sound” for years. They’ve almost gotten used to it now. 

“There’re series of inconveniences we just accept [as human beings]. I was raised by people who weren’t always happy and didn’t necessarily do very much to change it. They accepted that was their life,” says Bravo. 

“It’s always challenging when a group of people gets together and one person has to lead. I didn’t want to stereotype what these things look like. They are a community. If you find people who validate your experience, it doesn’t have to become a negative thing.”

The show, which has premiered the first two episodes in Toronto, does get “stranger,” however. 

“It does, but we are still pretty grounded. I think ‘The Listeners’ happens on a planet that looks a lot like Earth, it smells like Earth and moves like Earth. It’s Earth 2, if you will. I don’t think it gets that sci-fi, but there are elements of otherworldliness.” 

Understandably, finding the right sound was crucial. Especially as the audience isn’t always invited into the experience of hearing “the hum.”

“I made a list for myself of what films or shows are synonymous with great sound, and I don’t mean score. The most recent thing that came to mind was [2019 miniseries] ‘Chernobyl.’ I found it incredibly distressing and it gave me a lot of anxiety. But it was so effective!”

“I thought about something called a sound bowl, which is a meditation experience. It has that deep, guttural sound. You feel it, but in the end, people’s experiences are radically different.” 

Will the humming noise get even louder as the story continues? 

“You will want to wait and see. But we do get to ‘meet’ the sound more,” she assures. 

Bravo, who’s behind Independent Spirit Award-nominated “Zola” and directed episodes of “Poker Face,” “In Treatment” or “Mrs. America,” also embraced the chance of talking about a character who despite her own struggles still remains sceptical.   

“We had this conversation early on with Rebecca. If you went to a dinner party with Claire and there was a woman a few seats away, talking about hearing a sound nobody else can hear, Claire wouldn’t believe her,” she laughs. 

“She’s wants to be understood, but she doesn’t all the way buy it. When we meet this collective and they say they hear it too, it’s hard for her to accept them. In this sense, she’s the audience’s eyes and ears.”