“The Staircase” (2022)
Michael Stuhlbarg pitch perfect as always in this intriguing documentary drama.
Michael Stuhlbarg pitch perfect as always in this intriguing documentary drama.
For those seeking spoilers, can I re-direct you elsewhere within The Matrix as that is never my intention and frankly, well, the following will be a fairly straight forward set of mini paragraphs, a little character definition, a basic and spoiler free premise, a slight admission of guilt and perhaps the very best of all, just some love lined human words of appreciation for a very good and intriguing “Who Done it?” drama.
The premise is a simple one: Set in moneyed Forest Hills opulence, a local writer and wannabe candidate for the local city/town council returns inside his sizeable mansion to find his wife dead amid blood splattered walls at the bottom of a staircase. Following the death of his seemingly successful and high flying corporate wife, he’s arrested and charged with her murder whilst vociferously denying any involvement. With a fractured and somewhat disbelieving family surrounding the accused writer, he accepts an offer from a French filmmaking crew to document his seclusion with his legal defence team prior to the trial nearly two years later.
Here’s a more coded premise: Nothing, absolutely nothing, is what it seems. In a horrific trial such as this there are obviously lies and deceit, but the central themes run far deeper than this surface analysis. Infidelity and sexuality are highlighted, as is an incredibly unhealthy desire for money and personal power, as well as a huge over reliance on alcohol. Duty, Civic standing and family breakdown all coalesce with a bizarre cast of characters based on real life events and the kicker being: It’s obvious from the very first frames of this documentary drama who the murderer is.
Or is it?
All of this is weaved together brilliantly by writer/director Antonio Campos as he blends together four distinct timelines, a horrific murder and a somewhat surreal at times cast of real life characters. We traverse the final moments of someone’s life in the 9/11 dominated months of 2001, the aftermath, the commencement of the trial in 2003 and a vague and unexplained snapshot 14 years later. Campos’ drama is based upon the 2018 Netflix documentary of the same name, which in itself is a 14 year long compilation of the filming conducted by the original French documentary filmmakers.
Now available from HBO Max, there are currently four episodes available with a further four due to be released in late May and into early June 2022 and so why the early review? I watched the original Netflix documentary twice and, like another of their premier documentary series Making a Murderer, I’m convinced of the guilty party, but not wholly sure why! The evidence (with occasional use of the original documentary film) is as damning as the defence’s flimsy explanation, yet this can only be clouded by the real life human beings and their now dramatized real lives.
Of the huge supporting cast, Dane DeHaan (The Place Beyond the Pines, A Cure of Wellness) excels as “Clayton Peterson”, a somewhat troubled son and brother to “Todd Peterson” (Patrick Schwarzenegger), and half or adopted siblings “Caitlin Atwater” (Olivia DeJonge), “Margaret Ratliff” (Sophie Turner) and “Martha Ratliff” (Odessa Young). Special kudos is reserved for Parker Posey as pugnacious local Government prosecutor “Freda Black”.
Here are your three principal players:
“Michael Peterson” (Colin Firth). Firth portrays Peterson with a deliberately cold and almost permanent disinterest in others. Self serving and manipulative, is he leading a double life that is catching up with him?
“Kathleen Peterson” (Toni Collette). A staggering performance of ever changing emotions from the ever dependable Toni Collette, and in a role that is perhaps the most comprehensively detailed of the entire cast. There is a constant air of disappointment, unhappiness and a detached wishing to please intermingled with a heavy dependence on alcohol and a barrier with which to hide behind. Collette’s performance is the very epitome of the bubbling tensions, dependency, unease and everything being far from what it seems on the surface.
“David Rudolf” (Michael Stuhlbarg). Biased though I may be, the star of the dramatic show! Michael first dropped into my consciousness in 2009 with a typically frustrated and comedically put upon central character in the Coen Brothers classic A Serious Man before working with Steven Spielberg three years later on Lincoln. Stunning performances have followed in 2015’s Steve Jobs and Guillermo del Toro’s wonderful The Shape of Water two years later, but his performance of meticulous thought as well as a detached detailed analysis as Michael Peterson’s lawyer is first class and, as the series continues, can only become more central.
Here’s the thing: Despite watching the original documentary twice I don’t have a huge recall of the details and so this documentary drama surprised me and I’m excited for the coming further episodes. I don’t recall Kathleen’s characteristics being as fleshed out as they are here in this dramatization, nor the children and step children, but crucially the representations of Peterson and his lawyer Rudolf are pitch perfect, and eerily so in many respects. You certainly don’t need to have watched the original documentary but it will be a wonderful companion piece should you see this first, and I may have to re-visit the documentary if only to refresh my failing memory!
Highly recommended.
Thanks for reading. I’ve (spoiler free) reviewed films for over a decade. Here are the three most recently published film articles and please refer to my archives for many more:
The Genius of Quentin Tarantino Vol 2
Once Upon a Time in Hollywood. Oozing with myopic love, not spoilers.medium.com
“Don’t Look Up” (2021)
Adam McKay wags the dog as he takes us all on a surreal reflection of the past two fear driven years of our lives.medium.com
“Old” (2021)
The 14th offering from M Night Shyamalan is a disturbing one and a portent at a future no-one wishes to admit.medium.com