PLOT: Acclaimed journalist Catherine Ravenscroft built her reputation revealing the misdeeds and transgressions of others. When she receives a novel from an unknown author, she is horrified to realize she is now the main character in a story that exposes her darkest secrets. As Catherine races to uncover the writer’s true identity, she is forced to confront her past before it destroys both her own life and her relationships with her husband Robert and their son Nicholas.
REVIEW: Grief can make someone do terrible things, with revenge at the top of the list. While vengeance in the form of violent retribution has made for more entertaining cinematic experiences, there is something to be said for subtly destroying an adversary through slow, psychological torture. Alfonso Cuaron’s series Disclaimer is a brutal examination of the fallout of bad choices and how getting away with something can come back to haunt you decades later. Told over seven chapters, Disclaimer is Alfonso Cuaron’s first directorial outing since 2018’s acclaimed Roma and may be the best work of his career to date. With powerful performances from Cate Blanchett, Kevin Kline, Sacha Baron Cohen, and Kodi Smit-McPhee, Disclaimer is a slow burn that will frustrate you, enthrall you, and keep you watching to the shocking conclusion. Premiering at the Venice Film Festival this weekend, followed by the Toronto International Film Festival in September, audiences at home will not experience the series until October. When it does, this series will immediately become the most talked-about show of the year.
Disclaimer follows multiple characters, primarily Catherine Ravenscroft (Cate Blanchett), who becomes the focus of a book that purports to tell the story of her life during a trip to Italy two decades prior. What happened on that trip has never been revealed until now but risks shattering Catherine’s marriage to Robert (Sacha Baron Cohen) and her already tenuous relationship with her son Nicholas (Kodi Smit-McPhee). The series shifts between perspectives centered on Catherine and Robert’s lives, narrated by Indira Varma, and that of retired teacher Stephen Brigstocke (Kevin Kline), whose son Jonathan (Louis Partridge) was also in Italy at the same time as Catherine. As people read the book, the impact it has on the Ravenscroft family and Stephen and his wife Nancy (Lesley Manville) begins to unspool. Through each successive chapter, the relationships at the series’ core are shredded and ripped apart, forcing each character to examine who the people closest to them truly are and what revelations can change in how they see themselves and one another.
One of the pitfalls of reviewing television series is that we are not always given the full series before it premieres. Reviewing a story based on just a handful of episodes can often be detrimental, and Disclaimer is a perfect example of why. Having seen the full seven-episode series, I know that a review based on just the first episodes would have been vastly different than my reaction after completing the concluding chapter of this tale. Like a film, Disclaimer must be taken as a whole rather than judged episodically. The journey that Alfonso Cuaron takes audiences on relies on strapping in for the entire ride. Through each episode, I judged these characters for their actions and decisions, reviling some and feeling sympathy for others. Cate Blanchett is astounding as always, as the woman forced to bear the judgment of everyone, while Sacha Baron Cohen gives a weighty performance that changes how I view him as an actor. Kodi Smit-McPhee and Louis Partridge are both excellent, but the standouts in this series are Kevin Kline and Leila George. Kline is the best he has ever been, and I see numerous accolades coming his way as he plays Stephen as a haunted, vengeful, and truly human character. Leila George, the daughter of Vincent D’Onofrio and Greta Scacchi, plays the younger version of Catherine and absolutely equals Blanchett’s stature as the character.
In many ways, Disclaimer feels like a culmination of everything Alfonso Cuaron has directed to date: the sexual tension of Y Tu Mama Tambien, the storytelling of Great Expectations, the grandeur of taking everyday visuals of Roma, the technical expertise of Gravity, and the emotional weight of Children of Men. Cuaron combines all of these technical skills with a beautifully written script that anchors the stunning performances of the cast. This is a bleak story that will not be easy to watch for many because of the subject matter involved. Sometimes, the best things to watch are the hardest to get through. This holds true for Disclaimer in many ways, as the first episode may not necessarily leave you feeling invested, but by the second, I knew I had to see where this story was going. AppleTV+ is holding to its usual release schedule, with the first two episodes premiering followed by one each week. I was lucky enough to binge the entire series at once. Still, I can already feel the anticipation and agony as audiences try to parse out the story through the finale premiering in mid-November.
Using Renee Knight’s novel as inspiration, Alfonso Cuaron has faithfully kept the book’s tale intact but transformed it into something wholly unique. With each episode closing in at close to an hour, Disclaimer runs almost seven hours, making it Cuaron’s longest project to date. Despite being segmented, Disclaimer is every bit as cinematic as any of the director’s film work, with stunning cinematography from Emmanuel Lubezki and Bruno Delbonnel. Each cinematographer worked on different narrative threads, giving each a distinct look and feel while allowing Cuaron to play with visual techniques, tones, themes, and styles. The score from Finneas O’Connell, only his third outing as a composer for a film, is haunting and accentuates the different dimensions of the narrative, evoking the British and Italian settings. There is so much beauty hidden in the washed-out British scenes and ugliness in the bright Italian sequences, which Cuaron uses to build this story, weaving it into something wholly original and emotionally devastating.
Disclaimer is all about assumptions, accusations, and the power of perspective. Alfonso Cuaron has crafted an interconnected and structured narrative so that the viewer becomes directly involved in what happens to these characters. It is impossible not to take sides and draw conclusions. We are meant to do that when we consume entertainment regardless of medium. Disclaimer is the most emotionally jarring experience I have had with a film or television series since Alfonso Cuaron’s own Children of Men. If Disclaimer had been a feature film instead of a limited series, it would be a lock for Best Picture at the Academy Awards. As it stands, Disclaimer will rank as not only the best series of 2024 but one of the best television series of all time. Disclaimer is a masterpiece of storytelling from one of the best filmmakers working today.
Disclaimer premieres on October 11th on AppleTV+.
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