The Rehearsal

Imagine using all the power that a television network like HBO and all its production companies have to create scenarios and scenes that represent real life, but this time to create scenarios and rehearsal situations of something you hope to do with your life, in order to have all the aspects and variables as clear and not make a mistake, well that is The Rehearsal, a film crew of HBO and all its production resources created a series, where they film a program based on the filming of a method created by Nathan Fielder, does it sound complicated? Follow me and I'll try to explain it.

La comedia más perturbadora e interesante que he visto | El ensayo

Imagina que se utilizará todo el poder que tienen una cadena de television como HBO y todas sus productoras para crear escenarios y escenas que representan la vida real, pero esta vez para crear escenarios y situaciones de ensayos de algo que esperas hacer con tu vida, a fin de tener todos los aspectos y variables tan claras y no te equivoques, bueno eso es El Ensayo, un equipo de filmación de HBO y todos sus recursos de producción crearon una serie, donde filman un programa basado en la filmación de un método creado por Nathan Fielder ¿suena complicado? ven y te explico.

The first thing you ask yourself after a couple of episodes: **Is it a documentary, a series, a drama or a comedy? Let me tell you that for a moment you may be confused and believe that this is real, or not? That's what's innovative and the reason why it has been praised so much, it's something that hasn't been seen before, at least as far as I know.

Lo primero que te preguntas transcurridos un par de episodios: pero un momento ¿Es un documental, una serie, drama o comedia? Déjame decirte que por instantes puede confundir y creer que esto es real ¿O no? E ahí lo innovador y la razón por la cual se ha llevado varios halagos, es algo que antes no se había visto, por lo menos que yo sepa.

Being able to know the end from the beginning, an interesting proposal, handling all the possible variables in a situation will help you make the best decision. The fear of not being accepted can lead you to lie, but how long to sustain that lie? The burden it can become can be really heavy and can haunt you for a long time, the amazing thing is that we are willing to bear the burden of the lie rather than the shame of not being who we say we are.

Poder conocer el final desde el principio, una propuesta interesante, manejar todas las posibles variables en una situación te ayudará a tomar la mejor decisión. El temor a no ser aceptado te puede conducir a la mentira pero ¿Hasta cuándo sostener esa mentira? La carga en lo que se puede convertir puede ser realmente pesada y puede atormentar por mucho tiempo, lo más increíble es que estamos dispuestos a soportar la carga de la mentira antes que la vergüenza de no ser quien decirnos ser.

01.2.jpg Preparing a confession using false situation / Preparando una confesión usando el engaño

During the first episode we meet Nathan Fielder, the creator of the method The Rehearsal, who is also producer of the series, protagonist and writer. The method created by Nathan consists of rehearsing a situation that you have not yet lived and to be able to emerge victorious avoiding any mistake, so we see how this helps a man who wants to confess to his friends that among his studies he doesn't have a master's degree, a lie he has kept for 12 years and doesn't want to suffer the rejection that possibly accompanies the revelation. >Durante el primer episodio conocemos a Nathan Fielder, el creador del método El Ensayo, que a su vez es productor de la serie, protagonista y escritor. El método creado por Nathan consiste en ensayar una situación que aún no vives y poder salir victorioso evitando cualquier error, así vemos cómo esta ayuda a un hombre que desea confesar a sus amigos que entre sus estudios no tiene una maestría, una mentira que ha mantenido por 12 años y no quiere sufrir el rechazo que posiblemente acompañe la revelación.

Rehearsing the confession of not having a master's degree / Ensayando la confesión de no tener una maestría

The second episode was a little shorter but just as revealing as the previous one, it maintains the same premise, an experiment that covers all the variables of a future life, but this time it is the turn of an adult woman who for many years was deprived of motherhood and at 44 years old wants to be a mother but is still afraid of the experience, who isn't afraid of parenthood? I think it is something completely natural, the fear of the unknown and a new experience is part of our being, especially with situations that would change our lives completely, so I don't see wrong to want to be very sure of making the right decision and for that use a service like "The Rehearsal" seems right.

El segundo episodio fue algo más corto pero igual de revelador que el anterior, mantiene la misma premisa, un experimento que cubra todas las variables de una vida futura, pero esta vez le toca a una mujer adulta que por muchos años se privó de la maternidad y a sus 44 años quiere ser madre pero no deja de tener temor a la experiencia ¿Quien no le teme a la paternidad? Creo que es algo totalmente natural, el temor a lo desconocido y una nueva experiencia es parte de nuestro ser, en especial con situaciones que nos cambiarían la vida por completo, por eso no veo mal el querer estar muy seguro de tomar la decisión correcta y para eso usar un servicio como El Ensayo parece acertado.

**Rehearsing to be a mom / Ensayando para ser mamá**

A very interesting detail that the series has is that even the planning that Nathan does, can sometimes have flaws that he perceives and to improve he makes a rehearsal on what he could have planned, not only plans and rehearses with the situations of his clients that he wants to anticipate, he also plans and tries to anticipate in the decision making of the planning, it is something very strange and at the same time complex, who invented this has a lot of imagination.

Un detalle muy interesante que tiene la serie es que aún la planificación que Nathan realiza, en ocasiones puede tener fallas que él percibe y para mejorar realiza un ensayo sobre lo que pudo haber planificado, no solo planifica y ensaya con las situaciones de sus clientes a las que se quieren adelantar, también planifica y procura adelantarse en la toma de decisiones de la planificación, es algo muy extraño y a la vez complejo, quien invento esto tiene muchísima imaginación.

Nathan wants to rehearse being a father / Nathan quiere ensayar ser padre

Nathan our protagonist and director of The Rehearsal also joins the experience and wants to experiment fatherhood with this woman, he has a reflective moment where he declares that: "Maybe when everything around you is so temporary, you begin to long for something more permanent" This is because his life revolves around creating fictional situations that are ahead of a reality.

Nathan nuestro protagonista y director de El Ensayo también se suma a la experiencia y quiere experimentar la paternidad junto a esta mujer, tiene un momento reflexivo donde declara que:" Tal vez cuando todo a tu alrededor es tan temporal, empiezas anhelar algo más permanente " Esto debido a que su vida gira entorno a crear situaciones de ficción que se adelante a una realidad.

Something interesting about the rehearsals Nathan prepares for his clients is that they are extremely careful to take care of every detail, in fact they are extremely detailed, to practice the actions and words that his clients would probably encounter in real life, but to some extent in the series there was one variable that he was not taking into consideration, feelings.

In the first rehearsal where he prepared a man to confess to a friend the truth, he prepared every detail of a complete choreography of words and physical acts that helped him in making such a confession, but when the moment came in "real life" the man was frozen and could not speak, and for that he had not prepared him, he had not practiced anything in terms of feelings.

This is how we get to the point in the series where he starts to include how to trigger feelings in his clients while rehearsing, the third episode is the starting point of this new method, getting the feelings to appear in the middle of the rehearsal even going off script for a moment, but the challenge would be for the client to be able to replicate the same actions along with real feelings in the "real" situation.

Algo interesante de los ensayos que Nathan prepara para sus clientes es que procuran cuidar cada detalle, en realidad son extremadamente detallados, para practicar las acciones y las palabras que probablemente sus clientes encontrarían en la vida real, pero hasta cierto punto en la serie había una variable que no estaba tomando en consideración, los sentimientos. En el primer ensayo donde preparo a un hombre para confesar a una amiga la verdad, preparo cada detalle de una completa coreografía de palabras y actos físicos que le ayudaron en realizar tal confesión, pero cuando llegó el momento en la "vida real" el hombre quedo congelado y no pudo hablar, y para eso no lo había preparado, no había practicado nada en cuanto a los sentimientos. Fue así como llegamos al punto en la serie donde empieza a incluir como desencadenar sentimientos en sus clientes mientras ensayan, el tercer episodio es el punto de partida de este nuevo método, logrando que los sentimientos aparezcan en medio del ensayo incluso apartandose por un instante del guión, pero el desafío sería que el cliente fuera capaz de replicar las mismas acciones junto a sentimientos reales en la situación "real"

Sometimes rehearsal is not necessary, feelings do the job / En ocasiones el ensayo no es necesario, los sentimientos hacen el trabajo

I don't know how to interpret this series yet, at first it seems like it was going to be a comedy, but it turned out to be loaded with teachings, some in the midst of something disturbing. One of the points I liked the most is that no matter how hard we try to plan and rehearse what could be, if we bring it to reality, it would be recreating in our minds hypothetical situations, we will never be able to anticipate with certainty what the people involved will feel, that will give an unexpected twist to anything, that's why plans fall apart many times.

No sé cómo interpretar esta serie todavía, al principio parece que iba ser una comedia, pero resultó estar carga de enseñanzas, algunas en medio de algo perturbador. Uno de los puntos que más me gustó es que por más que nos esforzamos por planificar y ensayar lo que podría ser, si lo llevamos a la realidad, sería recrear en nuestras mentes situaciones hipotéticas, jamás podremos con certeza adelantarnos a lo que sentirán las personas involucradas, eso le dará un giro inesperado a cualquier cosa, es por eso que los planes se caen muchas veces.

No matter how much you plan, you cannot anticipate the feelings of others / Por mas que planifiques no puedes adelantarte a los sentimientos

Nathan is very involved in his program, his participation is active especially for experiencing the raising of a child, this part is interesting, during the episodes this trial is given while he attends his clients'. The child they raise together with a woman in a matter of hours and days makes him advance in age very quickly, and the situation with the woman becomes interesting, especially because he is a very peaceful man, and although he is the one who thinks he is leading the trial, she takes the reins of the relationship. >Nathan se involucra mucho en su programa, su participación es activa en especial por experimentar la crianza de un hijo, esta parte es interesante, durante los episodios se da este ensayo mientras atiende el de sus clientes. El niño que crían junto a una mujer en cuestión de horas y días lo hacen avanzar de edad muy rápido, y la situación con la mujer se torna interesante, en especial porque es un hombre muy pacífico, y a pesar de que él es quien cree dirigir el ensayo, ella toma la riendas de la relación.

Children are moved from rehearsal because California law doesn't allow them to work more than 2 hours / Cambian a los niños del ensayo porque las leyes de californi no permiten que trabajen mas de 2 horas

I have seen this situation many times, I loved that the series parodies it in some way, that kind of men who keep very much to themselves and let their partners make all the decisions to avoid any conflict and vice versa. I was impressed how the series includes all these aspects, but when I include the topic of religion, everything changed, what seemed to be the rehearsal of a possible couple raising a child was over, a clear example that beliefs and faith can really divide people.

Está situación la he visto muchas veces, me encantó que la serie la parodie de alguna manera, ese tipo de hombre que se mantienen muy al margen y dejan que sus parejas tomen todas la decisiones para evitar cualquier conflicto e viceversa. Me impresionó cómo la serie incluye todos estos aspectos, pero cuando incluyo el tema de la religión, todo cambio, lo que parecía ser el ensayo de una posible pareja al criar a un niño se terminó, un ejemplo claro que las creencias y fe realmente pueden dividir a la gente.

Images taken from my HBO account

I never did finish Nathan Fielder's "Nathan For You" series, but Nathan's obscure and often incredibly awkward and uncomfortable style of humour is one I was very much familiar with even prior to starting the show. His humour is reflected across the entire Internet as the many faces behind the screens reveal their inner "Nathan" in which awkwardness and just odd humour are essentially in everyone's mind, it is just often rather well hidden for the most part. I find it interesting that so many people connect with Nathan Fielder's strange works, how they're awkward and point out the difficulties of everyday social interactions and the many mistakes that fall in front of us during them; and ultimately how we all shrug and laugh it off despite the strong levels of embarrassment. What I find most interesting, however, is how Nathan Fielder's comedic shows actually go beyond just simple humour at the expense of pointing a magnifying glass at our social mistakes, and actually looks into the areas of human condition.

The Rehearsal came out recently, and I was aware of it, but did not really pay it much attention. I knew it was some type of documetary film but that was the full extent of my knowledge. I knew, as we all should by now, that this show would feature more of Fielder's nature. However, having watched through each of the episodes already, I can't help but think Fielder is a bigger genius than we are really aware. The Rehearsal goes beyond what is expected, beyond what is normal for documentary styled filmmaking, and bridges elements of comedy to a rather philisophical series of questions that are deeply routed in each of our lives. We see an approach to the many routes we take in life, and how each decision, action, and thought may lead to a web of possible outcomes that take us into the next steps of our lives. Perhaps they lead to happiness and love; perhaps they lead to failure and sadness. Perhaps we actually have far more control over our lives than we believe as we approach each day as it comes, seemingly on autopilot with little attention to just how fragile every interaction can be.

I will avoid writing about spoilers in this, and I highly recommend you watch this series yourself. It is truly incredible.

The Rehearsal

Starting off, The Rehearsal introduces us to these concepts rather lightly. We see the ways in which one man's little lie has spiralled into a life of guilt and misconception. Deceiving his greatest friendships and thus resulting in a fear that one day he will have to come clean to clear his own mind, and to also accept the very real possibility that this little lie that has been kept over the years may result in a lost friendship that he holds so dearly. For us, the audience, it is easy to see how Fielder just mocks this individual, taking advantage of his innocence and thus setting up a ridiculous environment in which his confession can be practiced, rehearsed, to the point of considering every potential outcome; pushing the odds that things go smoothly into his favour. At a glace it does not seem like much more. In fact, I even felt a bit uncomfortable as I watched these first few episodes knowing that someone was ultimately being laughed at.

The reality, however, is that Fielder sets up the scenario in which a small mistake made many years ago can lead to such desperation. Where everything that led to this very situation could have been avoided had he thought about the future in a bit more depth before accepting the minor lie that ended up lasting for so many years. We go through our lives rarely understanding that everything we do leads us down a specific road. We fail to realise the future in a way that we can comprehend as inevitable, but also somewhat easy to manipulate to best suit us. Had you considered the outcome of eating sugary foods every day, you may avoid health issues later on. Had you considered the way you replied to a person you liked perhaps a little more than a friend, perhaps a beautiful relationship would have flourished as a result. These are just a few examples, but you should get the general idea by now.

Though this initial scenario that unfolds between a man and his guilt and acceptance that to remove this guilt he may have to lose the person so close to him serves as nothing more than a starter. A test to reveal the possibility that thinking ahead may result in positive change. It leads us to the next phase of Fielder's show in The Rehearsal, where a bigger plan is to begin: preparing a woman for the idea of raising a child. Can someone truly know if they are ready for such a big shift into one of life's most important phases? The only way surely is to test it by placing them into the world of parenthood, as she lives alongside a child that rapidly ages and gives her a glimpse at the many responsibilities that can come with raising life. Actors are present and this whole facade results in a theatre show in which everyone but this woman are acting, dancing the song of her fantasy of being a mother; however there are of course downsides of being a parent and she's often played with by Fielder as he shows her the reality that relationships and being a parent can have significant hardships and downsides.

This is evident through the ways Fielder influences those around her, acting like the father and husband that may disagree with her often, believing that something else is best for the child, or that raising a child is often met with immaturity and events that may make her either uncomfortable or slightly disgusted. For us, as an audience, it is again very easy to overlook all of this and just see Fielder being his weird and manipulative self in which he mocks people in attempts to get laughs out of us, but that's definitely not the case. It is a genuine test. And this is where The Rehearsal is actually brilliant: its ability to be this comedic reflection of life's greatest challenges through documentary filmmaking that could easily be considered controversial and breaking the boundaries of ethical filmmaking.

Final Thoughts

Documentary filmmaking seems to be in a weird spot as the world of filmmaking grows more on ensuring profitability and attempting to trim the excess fat, whatever that might be. For the most part, the only area of documentary filmmaking that is truly thriving is sadly of the crime genre, where we somehow hold such odd fascination towards criminals and death. It is sad to see. Though Fielder's "The Rehearsal" is a documentary series that takes the idea of documentary filmmaking and psychology to a completely different level. In some strange "Synecdoche, New york" approach to setting the world as a stage. As nothing more than theatre, though displaying the many complexities of everyday life and the art to it. I found myself heavily observing the similarities to the two as it went on, and thus finding more and more appreciation for the series for how it took something as fragile but complex as human life.

Our minds that gracefully age in what feels like the fraction of a second. How we think of moments in life as something we are forever prepared for, forgetting we truly are not prepared. Perhaps we can be, though. Perhaps life can be approached with acceptance, and consideration for what may be coming next. Perhaps we can be aware of who we are in the present, and know how our present selves may influence the future. With life's challenges being precisely that: challenges. Why not consider the best way to approach them? We fail to remember that we are not alone in life; surrounded by many others all hurtling around space at the same speed. At the same moment in time. Forgotten and ignored in favour of our own happiness. The Rehearsal is a harsh reminder that we are not alone.

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La comedia más perturbadora e interesante que he visto | El ensayo

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