Cate Blanchett plays the role of Catherine Ravenscroft, an award-winning journalist and documentarian in Disclaimer. Photos: Supplied.
The warning about narrative writing comes early in the Apple TV+ psychological thriller Disclaimer. Actually, even before the film begins screening, you have to tick the box that asks if you are 15 years or older.
“Beware of narrative and form. Their power can bring us closer to the truth, but they can also be a weapon with a great power to manipulate.” These eloquent words are spoken by the chief international anchor for CNN Christiane Amanpour, who appears in the series to present an award to a documentarian named Catherine Ravenscroft (Academy Award-winning Cate Blanchett, The Aviator, Blue Jasmine).
Amanpour introduces the recipient. “In a career that spans nearly 20 years, the recipient of this award has cut through narratives and form that distract us from hidden truths to address some of the most difficult contemporary issues allowing us an unflinching look at her subjects as they really are.
“This remarkable documentarian has broken through the veil that has long protected prominent institutions and their often-charismatic perpetrators. Be aware that in the process of exposing her subject, Catherine demonstrates that they can manipulate us — only because of our own deeply held beliefs — and the judgements that we make.
“And in this way, Catherine reveals something more problematic and profound: our own complicity in some of today’s more toxic social sins.”
Amanpour praises her for being “a beacon of truth, a woman who is an inspiration to us all.” Such commentary gets under the surface of the storyline, is closer to the truth, but it also has the great power to manipulate.
Kevin Kline as Stephen Brigstocke, a retired private school teacher who harbours a grudge against Catherine in Disclaimer.
Oscar winners Cate Blanchett and Kevin Kline star in Disclaimer, a seven-episode mini-series written and directed by Alfonso Cuaron, based on the 2015 novel of the same name by Renee Knight.
Cuaron has won Academy Awards for Best Director for the science fiction drama Gravity (and Best Film Editing), and the semi-autobiographical drama Roma (also for Best Cinematography).
Ravenscroft, a famed documentary journalist, discovers she is a prominent character in a novel that purports to reveal a secret she has tried to keep hidden.
The story is exposed in a non-linear fashion which sees a young Catherine travelling to Italy with her young son, Nicholas. During their stay, she meets a young man named Jonathan (Louis Partridge), who dies while saving Nicholas from drowning. Twenty years later, back home in London, the truth emerges about an alarming incident experienced by Catherine.
The award-winning documentary filmmaker is married to Robert (Sacha Baron Cohen, Ali G Indahouse, Borat), a non-governmental organisation consultant, and Nicholas (Kodi Smit-McPhee), 25, is their aimless, drug-addled son.
Kevin Kline (A Fish Called Wanda, The Good House) plays the role of Stephen Brigstocke, a retired private school teacher who harbours a grudge against Catherine. He is Jonathan’s father, who years later, publishes a book about the whole ordeal.
Then a mysterious delivery threatens to expose a celebrated journalist’s past. A package arrives addressed to Catherine, containing a pseudonymous novel that opens with the disclaimer that any resemblance between fiction and fact is intentional. She opens it up and immediately recognises that the main character is herself. It purports to reveal a secret she has tried to keep hidden.
Cate Blanchett and Sacha Baron Cohen in Disclaimer now streaming on AppleTV+.
Disclaimer is intricate, emotional, disturbing and falls a little short on expectations. An interesting premise that isn’t distinctly explored, it’s slow-moving, a bit too drawn out, but the end is worth waiting for. The revenge story, chock-full with concealed truths, not only explores multiple narratives, but the final plot twist is a surprise. Preconceived judgements about Catherine are completely different from what’s revealed at the end.
Cuaron’s stylish direction reflects his communicative script and propels you into one perception before driving you into another. He tampers with anticipation and supposition.
Exceptional in their roles, both lead stars are intense in their bitterness. Traces of Tar come to the surface as Blanchett portrays yet another dominant woman tackling her own unpredicted repercussions. On the other hand, Kline channels Stephen’s grief with sensitivity.
Intentionally uncompromising, Disclaimer weaves a tapestry of torment which grasps you and compels you to gaze at the catastrophe of two people’s lives, caught in the crosscurrent of grief.
Painted is a portrait of pain and agony, not visible at first. Nothing sombre about this situation, and there’s no real happy ending. However, there’s hope and beauty in the likelihood that Catherine and Nicholas can regain the loving relationship they once had.
“The love of a parent for a child is continuous and transcends heartbreak and disappointment,” — James E. Faust.
Disclaimer, written and directed by Alfonso Cuaron, is streaming on AppleTV+.
