Why Nathan Fielder's Asher packs the biggest punch in The Curse
The Nathan for You star gives an enthralling performance in his latest series – which might even tell us something about the real Nathan Fielder.
Nathan Fielder is one of comedy's greatest enigmas. Over the course of his much-loved docu-comedy series Nathan for You, in which the comedian steps into what can only be assumed to be a heightened version of himself, you can only count on one hand the number of times he appears to break character. Even then any evidence of his 'corpsing' is tenuous, signified only ever by a mere whisper of a smirk while one of his outlandish business strategies unravel in front of him.
With his deadpan manner and torturously stilted way of conversing with the business owners on the show, for the most part Fielder is resemblant of an extra-terrestrial being who studied human interaction and then donned a skinsuit to attempt the feat himself.
Yet, the comedian's latest project The Curse in which he stars as Asher, one half of a TV show presenting couple, is a potentially profound revelation of Fielder's intentions as a creator.
The show revolves around a metatheatrical premise: Asher and Whitney, a married couple played by Nathan Fielder and Emma Stone, and their producer (Benny Safdie), attempt to have the pilot of their TV show approved for air. It is allegedly an episodic format in which the couple, from week to week, try to sell their exorbitantly priced eco-conscious 'passive' homes while also documenting their endeavours to 'give back' to their local community of Española, New Mexico.
The premise of the couple's show is as clumsy as its punning title FlipAnthropy. Whitney's staunch support of a Native American tribe is ham-fisted and viewed dubiously by those she claims to champion including a local Native American artist, Cara, who's slightly miffed that Whitney claims to be her 'good friend'. Her beaming smile is a slowly eroding veneer over her neurotic personality. She is indignant that people don't take her ludicrously constructed, tinder-box homes seriously, but on camera she is nonchalant and wisecracking.
There is a palpable volatility in Stone's portrayal but despite her praiseworthy performance, Fielder's portrayal of Asher, Whitney's awkward and spineless husband, is the axis about which the show's disquieting undertone revolves. Asher is after all the one to be struck with the titular curse, dealt by a scowling little girl in a parking lot after he tries to rescind a $100 note he'd just given her moments before.
With the title of the show appearing on the screen as a mirage-like apparition at the beginning of each episode, the show seems to tease an element of magic-realism. The long-drawn out shots of several scenes, in which the camera lingers on the characters for too long, further creates a premonitory overtone.
However, it is unlikely we can expect a plague of locusts to descend upon the couple's eco-home and ravage the meticulous landscaping. The curse instead appears to manifest as the progressive breakdown of the couple's relationship. From the outset, this seems to already be strained as Asher continuously tries to show affection to an apathetic Whitney with a litany of stilted 'Baby' endearments and words of affirmation. "You give me the strength to do anything," he croons in the first episode, yet his hunched posture betrays apprehension.
Yet, as the filming of FlipAnthropy and the couple's anxiety to sell their eco-home intensifies, Asher's exasperation and desperation in the relationship becomes more acute. The little girl in the parking lot has essentially pulled the uno-reverse card on him. The couple's production has been all too willing to capitalise on the financial struggles of the local community and perpetuate further trauma in the name of compelling viewing. Yet Asher, previously the arbiter of such suffering, must now sit squirming in his discontent.
He doesn't have creative control over the camera lens we see through as it deliciously lingers on his own suffering. Episode 5 ends on his silhouette in the couple's bed: "You know you're my angel, right?", he softly says to her turned away body and is met only with the rise and fall of her chest as response.
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Asher's plight in the show is perhaps Fielder's repentance for the antics in his previous docu-reality series The Rehearsal. The show's finale proved tough viewing when the child actor Fielder had hired to act as his son became distraught when filming ended. Given that the boy had grown up without a father, audiences were left deeply uncomfortable with Fielder's disregard for the welfare of the boy who had become attached to him. If this is Fielder's self-imposed punishment, he cleverly capitalises on the slippery distinction between his real self and his character which defines his comedy.
However, it would be to misunderstand Fielder to conclude that he wants the audience to pity Asher in The Curse. The show is wholly invested in performance and more specifically the performance of self. Fielder utilises his awkward demeanour to imbue Asher's character with a disingenuousness so potent it overwhelms any sympathy we may feel for him. We don't emphasise with his failure to perform as the funny, charismatic co-host husband because we cannot discern the human behind this failure. Perhaps The Curse imposed on Asher is the crude exposure of his hollowness.
The Curse airs on Paramount+ in the UK, and on Showtime and Paramount + in the US – sign up for Paramount+ here.
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