Wellmania follows human tornado and food critic Liv Healy (Celeste Barber), who has just been offered her dream job in New York: to be a judge on TV’s biggest new food show Banquet Royale.
But after returning home to Australia to surprise her best friend Amy for a milestone birthday, Liv is diagnosed with catastrophic health and her US green card is cancelled. Looking for the quickest route back to New York, she throws herself body-first into a radical wellness journey, hell-bent on getting well to get home.
Swapping degustations for discipline, the city that never sleeps for laidback Sydney suburbia, and a rock and roll lifestyle for a regimented health routine, Liv attempts to achieve physical health – and a ticket back to New York – in the fastest possible way. She undertakes an intense detox of herbal laxatives and enemas. She straps on a FitBit and takes up a fitness regimen.
She takes strange detours into sex therapy, microdosing LSD and a chance encounter with a death doula. Along the way, Liv comes to realise wellness is about more than just the physical. She is forced to rebuild and redefine her relationships with her mother Lorraine (Genevieve Mooy), her brother Gaz (Lachlan Buchanan) and closest friend Amy (JJ Fong) – all of whom have their own struggles that Liv affects, complicates … and occasionally causes.
Across eight episodes, Liv discovers true wellness isn’t just about BMI or cholesterol, crystals or essential oils, but requires the far-more difficult task of connecting with people who love you, and confronting the trauma of your past. Wellmania is a story about the meaning of home, what it takes to heal from grief, and discovering what really constitutes a life lived well.
judge – giudice
milestone birthday – compleanno importante
to be diagnosed with – essere diagnosticato con
to throw oneself into – gettarsi in un’impresa
to be hell-bent on – essere determinato a farlo
to swap sth for sth – scambiare qcs con qcs
degustation – degustazione
discipline – disciplina
laidback – rilassarsi
to attempt to – tentare di
to achieve – raggiungere
to undertake – intraprendere
herbal laxatives – lassativi a base di erbe
to detour into – deviare in
to encounter with – incontrare
to rebuild – ricostruire
to redefine – ridefinire
struggle – lotta
to affect – influenzare
far-more difficult task – compito molto più difficile
to confront sth – confrontarsi con qcs
to constitute sth – costituire qcs.
