‘Disclaimer’ series review: Alfonso Cuarón creates a cornucopia of cinematic delights

Disclaimer begins with a young couple, Sasha (Liv Hill) and Jonathan (Louis Partridge) having sex on a train. They seem comfortable with their bodies and sexuality. The two are on their way to Italy for a holiday. The scene shifts to a fancy dinner in London where the celebrated documentarian, Catherine Ravenscroft (Cate Blanchett), is being honored with an award for her latest work.

At the ceremony, the announcer says, “Beware of narrative and form,” and the viewer would do well to heed that disclaimer. Narrative and form as well as one’s preconceived notions create palatable versions of truth. “Katherine,” the announcer declares, “has revealed our own complicity in some of today’s more toxic social sins.”

As the show progresses, one realises, how much is tied to one’s beliefs and experiences quite like the characters in the series. There is Catherine, the brilliant truth-teller, hiding behind secrets. There is her husband, Robert, (Sacha Baron Cohen) the supportive and loving husband, unwilling to give Catherine the benefit of the doubt, or a safe space in which to unburden herself.

A still from ‘Disclaimer’ | Photo Credit: Apple TV

Catherine and Robert’s 25-year-old son, Nicholas (Kodi Smit-McPhee), drifts through life convinced his mum is controlling and remote while his dad tries too hard to be a mate rather than a parent. Jonathan’s father, Stephen, (Kevin Kline) a retired public school teacher, holds Catherine is responsible for Jonathan’s death and indirectly for his wife, Nancy’s (Lesley Manville) death long before cancer claimed her.

After Jonathan’s death, Nancy withdrew from living, turning his room into a shrine. She moves into Jonathan’s room leaving Stephen outside listening to her type away.

Twenty years after Jonathan’s death and nine years after Nancy’s passing, when Stephen sorts through Nancy’s things, he comes across a manuscript, titled The Perfect Stranger, and some intimate photographs of a young Catherine (Leila George). With the help of his friend, and headmaster in the school he taught in, Justine (Art Malik), Stephen publishes the book.

He sends a copy to Catherine who is shocked and horrified when she recognises herself in the book, dredging up memories of a holiday to Italy they took as a family 20 years ago. Robert had to leave early because something came up at work, while Sasha returned to London, when her mum called telling of Sasha’s favourite aunt dying in an accident.

Stephen also drops off a copy of the book at Nicholas’ workplace and a copy with Robert, with the photographs, which he (Robert) instantly recognises were taken at the hotel they stayed in. As Catherine’s life falls apart, Stephen tightens the noose, dropping off copies at Catherine’s office, to the delight of her violently ambitious colleagues, including her assistant, Jisoo (HoYeon).

Alfonso Cuarón’s first foray into streaming is all round delicious. His trademark long takes are served with a side of feverishness. There are those long pullbacks, like when the police come to inform Stephen and Nancy of their son’s death, the camera goes back to the outdoor grill, with the television continuing to talk about a beauty contest while all the joy has been leached out this couple’s life.

A still from ‘Disclaimer’ | Photo Credit: Apple TV

There are beautiful homes — Catherine’s being one of light and space, never mind the disruptive cat, while Stephen’s rambling old house, shows signs of neglect after Nancy’s withdrawal from the world of the living. A former student teaching Stephen to navigate social media (“no full stops, commas or question marks,” “don’t post about books”) is poignantly funny.

Disclaimer, based on Renée Knight’s eponymous novel,is also about parents and children, from Nancy unconditional love for Jonathan to Nicholas feeling distanced from his parents. Catherine’s mum, who is struggling with dementia, on the other hand, responds to her daughter’s confession in the dark by reaching out and holding Catherine’s hand.  

In the acting department, while Blanchett is expectedly regal — equal parts fiercely strong and infinitely fragile, it is Kline who steals our hearts as the vengeful widower, driven to distraction by profound grief, who realises almost too late everything is not as it seems.

Cuarón’s decision to have a narrator, Indira Varma, is not as disruptive as some of the complaints indicate; probably due to listening to a bunch of Lucy Foley books, which all feature multiple points of view in different time periods.

Disclaimer is wholly enjoyable. It is beautifully mounted, dressed (Blanchett’s coats and scarves are delish) and acted, zipping by its seven sexy, overwrought episodes while slyly questioning our concepts of truth and make believe.

 Disclaimer is currently streaming on Apple TV+ with weekly episodes dropping on Fridays till November 15

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