Alfonso Cuaron examines the betrayal of human values in his latest foray on television and why you should watch it.
Disclaimer: This article contains spoilers after the earlier stages, but is worth reading before watching the show if you really needed convincing.
The truth is a peculiar thing. It is often hidden in plain sight. Like the title suggests and warns, disclaimers hint at something disturbing yet to be revealed, but most importantly, the denial or dismissal of responsibility. Journalists seek the latest news, fighting to piece the puzzle together. Intent on forming a portrait to understand a person’s interiority and their own truths.
It is a shared responsibility to source accurate information and provide fair context to narratives desired to be explored. That doesn’t change the fact that oftentimes, such power and responsibility is misused for selfish purposes. But what happens when you find yourself caught in the web of lies, tangling your own morals as your complicit behaviour enables falsehood to become reality and the past to be revised at the expense of who you write about.
In an age where social media has become the primary platform for the latest news and updates, it is easy to see people jump the gun with reactionaries flooding the comments. Judgements have already been made without even reading the article. Headlines alone are enough to convince people to form set opinions or confirm their pre-conceived perceptions of others. People are so eager to question the person’s character yet they often lack the initiative to question their own mislead assumption. It speaks to a larger problem with Gen Z discussions where clickbait articles and omission of context to what people say are tools to drive these narratives.
Disclaimer is the latest Apple Miniseries directed by seasoned film auteur Alfonso Cuaron, whom adapts a book which focuses on veteran journalist Catherine Ravenscroft (Cate Blanchett) at the height of her career, but is forced to question everything as her past is brought back to the surface in the form of a mysterious book written by a vengeful grief stricken father Stephen (Kevin Kline). Threatening to expose buried secrets and reveal who Catherine Ravenscroft really is, the series uncovers the deeper meaning behind the concept of truth and the weight of each person’s story in finding that answer.
Catherine Ravenscroft just won her award. She lives in a comfortable home and lovingly embraces her husband Robert over dinner. But their son Nicholas gives the impression of estrangement despite living with his parents. He doesn’t particularly get along with his mother and he is mostly fine with his father, mostly because Robert never questions Nichola’s everyday life or interests the way a journalist does, especially a mother. Catherine happening to be both just makes it her second nature to want to always ask and be informer.
Not that you can blame her when it’s her child after all and Robert’s decision to maintain distant interest, willingly believing any word Nicholas says reflects the differences in their parenting habits but also who they are as characters. One who is eager to get closer to their loved ones, the other content with keeping distance and maintaining his comfort zone.
This sets the tone for the rest of the series where the viewer is thrown into various timelines in a scattered mystery where every piece of detail is crucial to understanding the full picture. Meticulous as Alfonso likes to call it, every event and interaction has significance, hinting at patterns in behaviour or forcing you to question the concept of truth. A sword or shield depending on who uses it.
A show distinctly separated by 2 halves, the first focuses on setup as with any mystery tends to. Leaving small clues to track as the viewer is thrown into the backstory of Catherine and her relationship with Jonathan (Louis Partridge) in a brief trip to Italy which her husband decided to pass on due to work. Leila George plays Catherine’s younger self with a seductively, mischievous portrayal of a woman seemingly unsatisfied by her husband and craving for something more. A youthful burst of energy or what the viewer is led to believe anyway.
She’s with her son Nicholas as they spent their time in Italy bathing under the sun and enjoying the trivialities of life. What happens afterwards is a domino effect of pain and confusion, as relationships develop and build into stinging rabbit holes of trauma and unspoken words of grief and miscommunication.
People are capable of creating their own fictionalised versions of the truth. Take Stephen for example. He created a book about Catherine’s supposed love affair with his son. Yet he wasn’t even there to witness it. His perception of Catherine was based entirely on what his late wife seemingly assumed and researched. But because of her death and his inability to accept her passing, wearing her cardigan for instance, her own accusations of Catherine’s participation in Nicholas’s death is not questioned.
Stephen doesn’t seem to feel the need to reconsider his wife’s perception of their son’s mysterious past, the verdict being that he is totally faultless besides being a naive teenager. Yet that was enough for him to decide to publish the book and consequently ruin Catherine’s life and family. By obsessing with revenge out of grief due to failing to recognise his own son’s liability, he enabled the truth to. A story takes a life of its own soon as you stop questioning
The heated finale brings everything to a boil as Catherine and Stephen at last have their encounter. Addressing their shared history and bringing light to some answers desperately craved by the viewers. The tensions are palpable after Catherine had enough and waited in the garden with a knife, intent on murdering or perhaps carving an opportunity to have her own story heard for once.
Sometimes people are more willing to trust what a stranger says than to believe someone close to them that they’ve known their whole lives. Both Stephen and Catherine’s final statements to Robert is damning of his character’s values. The fact he did not question it and chooses to believe accusations over his wife or the fact that he seems more relieved of the fact his wife was raped instead of seemingly cheating on him as he originally was lead to think.
In a patriarchal society, it speaks volumes to how women’s stories of their experiences are treated. Even some of the current discourse in the community raises questions. If you refuse to believe a fictional female character was raped when she said she was, what does that say about real women who go through these exact experiences?
Once shown, your perspective changes. New information comes to light and the context of everything prior changes. It’s the common goal of a mystery yet that doesn’t make it any less effective or surprising when done well. By creating a snapshot narrative with sublime filmmaking that uncovers a larger truth about perspective and empathy.
Cate Blanchett delivers an emotional masterclass as a journalistic mother fighting for her story to be heard. Leila George is a revelation as her younger self with few words and Kevin Kline is outstanding as the grieving father fuelled by unresolved hatred. The flawless switching between povs across the timelines with incredibly smooth transitions and the melancholic score gives this series even more weight and profoundness as it unravels. It’s a show best seen to be believed.
Disclaimer is a series that shows how far people are willing to go to destroy others based on their stubbornly held beliefs. When the truth is easy to manipulate and a tool that’s meant to validate people’s experiences can be used as a weapon to discard their humanity. Cate Blanchett once again delivers a fierce performance, carrying textured emotions and heartbreak while Kevin Kline gives an exceptional display.
The series ultimately goes for a direct message that’s hard to argue against and comes as a must watch, now more than ever during this weekend when Apple TV is made free for everyone to use.
Disclaimer is streaming now on Apple TV +
