DISCLAIMER

August 30, 2024

cate blanchett, leila george, sasha baron cohen, kodi smit-mcphee, louis partridge, alfonso cuarón

Words by JANE CROWTHER


Alfonso Cuarón’s dark seven-part thriller exploring victim blaming, the madonna/whore complex and the toxicity of trauma gives audiences a warning straight off the bat that they should question what they see. As feted documentarian Catherine Ravenscroft (Cate Blanchett) receives another award to add to her collection, the host of the ceremony touches on narrative and form and warns that they can be used for manipulation. Narrative and form are certainly used to skewed and smart effect in this elegant adap of Renée Knight’s 2015 bestseller as three stories are interwoven across decades. 

cate blanchett, leila george, sasha baron cohen, kodi smit-mcphee, louis partridge, alfonso cuarón

In one strand we follow Catherine Ravenscroft as she receives a parcel from an unknown source containing a book that seems to unravel carefully held secrets from her past. The story at the heart of the novel sends her spiralling, impacting her marriage to stuffy lawyer Robert (Sasha Baron Cohen) and estranging her even more from her 25-year-old wastrel son, Nick (Kodi Smit-McPhee). Meanwhile Stephen Brigstocke (Kevin Kline pulling off a perfect befuddled Englishman in the vein of Jim Broadbent) is mourning the loss of his son two decades previously, as well as his wife Nancy (Lesley Manville) more recently. Bereft, Stephen has nothing to live for but embittered revenge. And in a third story, horny inter-railing teen Jonathan (Louis Partridge) can’t keep his eyes off a beautiful young mother (Leila George) on an Italian beach. Grief, betrayal and brutality are bound for all the characters – but the how and why is disquietingly spun across the episodes to a gut-punch denouement that will make audiences question their own assumptions, gender bias and acceptance of narrative. The truth at the heart of this bleak tale is something that is lost repeatedly in the retelling of it, depending on who is crafting the story and what information (or lack of it) they are working with.

cate blanchett, leila george, sasha baron cohen, kodi smit-mcphee, louis partridge, alfonso cuarón
cate blanchett, leila george, sasha baron cohen, kodi smit-mcphee, louis partridge, alfonso cuarón

It would be churlish to provide any more narrative detail – the pleasure really is in the unpackaging of it – but this onion-layered story of perspective is delivered beautifully by Cuarón as writer/director, and his cast. Blanchett is a known powerhouse but she is immense here; by turns frantic, self-absorbed, rageful and ultimately incandescent as a woman being judged. George as a younger version of Catherine is a revelation in a star-making turn as both a vamp and a victim. She and Partridge generate serious heat in explicit scenes that cleverly make viewers complicit in judgement, while Kline and Manville create a blindsiding and heartbreaking portrait of grief that is hard to see past. Each of their narratives twist and turn to a barnstorming final episode that will likely prompt audience introspection about personal and public perception, society and social media’s hurry to punish without due diligence and the way we castigate women for being sexual beings. Knowing what we know at the end might also inform repeat viewing to understand the clues that were there for us to see – if only we weren’t so blinkered. A masterful binge watch that asks pertinent and uncomfortable questions.


Words by JANE CROWTHER
Disclaimer premieres on Apple TV+ on 11 October

TRENDING

Andrew Garfield, Ayo Edebiri, Chloë Sevigny, Julia Roberts, Luca Guadagnino, Michael Stuhlbarg

AFTER THE HUNT

Luca Guadagnino’s latest is about cancel culture writ large – its opening titles recall Woody Allen and a bar jukebox plays

Ariana Greenblatt, Avengers: Infinity War, Barbie, Fear Street: Prom Queen, Now You See Me: Now You Don’t, Stuck in the Middle

ARIANA GREENBLATT

The Now You See Me: Now You Don’t starand L’Oréal ambassador tells Hollywood Authentic about manifestation, matches and mom’s cooking.

BUY

You may also like…

Ariana Grande, Cynthia Erivo, Jeff Goldblum, Jon M. Chu, Michelle Yeoh, Wicked

WICKED

Words by JANE CROWTHER That Stephen Schwartz’s hit musical adapted for the big screen would please Ozians was never in doubt. Debuting on Broadway in 2003, Wicked was a musical touchstone for audiences embracing the outlier characters as well as themes of female friendship and being your best bad self. Adapted for cinema by screenwriters Winnie

cate blanchett, charles dance, evan johnson, galen johnson, guy maddin, nikki amuka-bird, rumours

INSIDE RUMOURS

Words by JANE CROWTHER Cate Blanchett and Charles Dance lead an ensemble cast as the fictional German Chancellor and POTUS in Evan Johnson, Galen Johnson and Guy Maddin’s political satire, Rumours. They tell Hollywood Authentic about night shoots, AI fears, outlawing pineapples and tall poppy syndrome. What happens when the seven leaders of the richest democracies in the

Brad Pitt, Damson Idris, F1: The Movie, Javier Bardem, Joseph Kosinski, Kerry Condon

F1: THE MOVIE

Made by the same dream team behind Top Gun: Maverick, this high-performance star vehicle is pure popcorn entertainment