A Quick Word on AppleTV's "Disclaimer"
Tuesday, November 19, 2024 at 10:00AM by Eric Blume
We at The Film Experience couldn't let an opportunity go by without posting about the new AppleTV series Disclaimer since it stars two-time Oscar winner Cate Blanchett, Oscar winner Kevin Kline, and Oscar nominees Lesley Manville, Sacha Baron Cohen, and Kodi Smit-McPhee. Plus, it's written and dirtected by mutli-Oscar winner Alfonso Cuarón (who's won Oscars for Directing, Editing, and Cinemtography).
That's a highly-pedigreed project, and this group of artists have created a probing, sometimes bizarre, curious, and difficult piece of television. There is no way to have any deep discussion about this project until you've seen it all the way through. So I won't divulge the turns and ambitions of Disclaimer too much, but if you haven't seen it at all, stop reading now...even a cursory dive into the show requires a few reveals...
The good news is that Disclaimer is trying for something very sophisticated and interesting, not just weaving narration through its three main characters, but giving each different voices. Kline's story is narrated in first-person; Cohen's in third-person; and Blanchett's in second-person. I've tried to think of any film told in second-person narration, and I can't think of one? Help me, readers! I'm sure there are a few out there, but suffice it to say, second-person narration in film is rare...it's awkward and self-conscious, and not something we're accustomed to seeing.
Disclaimer exists to use these different voices to drive and contrast the storytelling, to challenge viewer's notions of truth and agency, and does so to sometimes devastating effect. I found its "literary" approach fascinating, but I was surprised that so many of my smart cinephile friends found all the narration insufferable and undramatic. Even though they reconsidered some of this by the finale episode of the show, the fact remains that watching this show is a frustrating and disorienting experience. It all comes together in the end, and that re-examination of your experience at the end of the series is, indeed, the POINT of the program, but it is a very odd viewing experience.
It's great fun seeing Kevin Kline have something so meaty to do onscreen...he's grossly underutilized in movies, and he gives Disclaimer a nice dirty-joke feel as he gleefully tries to take down Blanchett. Blanchett here is in far tighter quarters than the usual scale-climbing she often gets to do, but her performance is calibrated razor-sharp, and when she finally gets her big moments, she delivers. The sheer power of Blanchett is sometimes stupefying. She takes on a sort of Greek-theater grandness in the final episode that she pulls off with aplomb. Manville, Cohen, and Smit-McPhee (who was criminally robbed of that Oscar a few years back) all register in small roles, but they don't have the big scenes you may want to see from them.
Ultimately, I found Disclaimer to be a triumph, but of a very specific variety. You're held at a distance, and the show has a clinical feel to it that keeps the experience purely intellectual. I can see it being very divisive, as it strays from traditional storytelling and is a bit of bumpy ride throughout. But what about you? Have you watched Disclaimer? What are your thoughts?
Reader Comments (12)
As much as I normally enjoy Kevin Kline's work, I think he's mostly awful in this. His unhinged villain shtick is tonally off and not at all compelling, unlike what we see from Lesley Manville, who manages to be both scary and sympathetic in the flashbacks.
I was on Catherine's side from the beginning, though that's probably due to Blanchett's performance and how annoying the characters are who surround Catherine. So I never bought the book version of events as what really happened and always assumed that she had been assaulted.
Read the book, it's AMAZING.
Rubbish.
I thought it was a brilliantly tense affair. Performances were great across the board especially Cate Blanchett. I was hooked from episode to episode and thought it was a master in building that slow burning tension and actually didn’t twig about the ending for quite a while. Great watch. Hope they give Cate the Emmy.
I did not care for it as much as you although I agree Kevin Kline was terrific. I've been frustrated by the unfulfilled promise of so many tv shows starring great actresses this year - we need another Mare of Eastown or Big Little Lies!
Without spoiling: many think-pieces I've read said that the "twist" in thr final episode implicates the viewer, but not me, my conscience is clear: I never took the events as presented at face value.
Definitely a "take the teacher not the class" situation. There's enough interesting Cuaron direction and Blanchett material to make it worth seeing, but it (like much on Apple TV) is uneven, overwrought, etc.
I actually think SBC is quite bad in it. His character is poorly written but he does very little to improve it.
I saw the twist coming about midway through. Kline's character devolves into such disgusting behavior that you know he's not going to be the final "hero" of the story.
To me, this was a huge failure. There were a few truly great scenes, but most of it was just embarrassing.
I haven't watched it yet. But if it has Queen Blanchet, it's mandatory.
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