DISCLAIMER* - Apple TV+ Series, Oct 11, Cate Blanchett, Kevin Kline, Written/Directed by Alfonso Cuarón

[atomheartbevo 89672]

DISCLAIMER* is a gripping psychological thriller in seven chapters, starring Academy Award winners Cate Blanchett and Kevin Kline. Written and directed by five-time Academy Award winner Alfonso Cuarón, DISCLAIMER* is based on the best-selling novel of the same name by Renée Knight.

Plot:

Spoiler

Acclaimed journalist Catherine Ravenscroft (Blanchett) 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 (Sacha Baron Cohen) and their son Nicholas (Kodi Smit-McPhee). The ensemble cast includes Lesley Manville, Louis Partridge, Leila George, Hoyeon, and features Indira Varma as the narrator.

Hailing from Apple Studios, DISCLAIMER* is co-produced by Esperanto Filmoj and Anonymous Content. Cuarón executive produces for Esperanto Filmoj alongside Gabriela Rodriguez. In addition to starring, Blanchett serves as executive producer. David Levine and the late Steve Golin executive produce for Anonymous Content. Academy Award winner Emmanuel Lubezki, Donald Sabourin and Carlos Morales also executive produce. Renée Knight serves as co-executive producer. Lubezki and Academy Award nominee Bruno Delbonnel serve as directors of photography. The score is composed by multiple Academy and GRAMMY Award winner Finneas O’Connell.

 

Edited September 24 by atomheartbevo

[MrX 734]

Kevin Kline?  I’m in. 

[CooterBrown 18012]

[huge 3793]

1 hour ago, MrX said:

Kevin Kline?  I’m in. 

No kidding.  Where has he been hiding?

[mchookem 16336]

[atomheartbevo 89672]

Cate Blanchett’s husband of 27 years (this is a 10 year-old photo).

[4th&Five 41554]

This is really good so far.

[billfromlaketravis 11481]

30 minutes ago, 4th&Five said:

This is really good so far.

Could you provide a brief plot synopsis? 

[4th&Five 41554]

From USA Today:

Spoiler

"Disclaimer" tells a story about a story, specifically the consequences of events that transpired between a 19-year-old British kid, Jonathan (Louis Partridge), and a young mother, Catherine (Leila George), on an Italian beach in the 2000s. The details of the encounter aren't immediately clear, but by the end, Jonathan is dead and Catherine never tells a soul what happened. Twenty years later, modern-day Catherine (Blanchett) becomes the obsession of Jonathan's father Stephen (Kline). The old man discovers what he believes to be evidence of Catherine's role in Jonathan's death, and is eager for revenge and catharsis after losing Jonathan and later, his grieving wife Nancy (Lesley Manville). With very little care for collateral damage, he lashes out in destructive, disturbing ways.

 

Edited October 11 by 4th&Five

[mr. sunshine 2827]

Love Kevin Kline in, among other things I Love You to Death, which is way underrated. 1990 Best Picture - Driving Miss Daisy - nope. Best Actor - Daniel Day Lewis in My Left Foot - no arguing that one. That's one, arguably two, Oscars that should be on the Kline pile of win

[naija 2854]

That's Vincent D'Onofrio's daughter? 

[4th&Five 41554]

Ha. She was married to Sean Penn for a couple of years too. 

[atomheartbevo 89672]

4 hours ago, 4th&Five said:

Ha. She was married to Sean Penn for a couple of years too. 

[dreonny66 1]

Cate Blanchett and Kevin Kline are an awesome duo, and Cuarón directing just adds to the excitement.

[naija 2854]

19 hours ago, atomheartbevo said:

the resemblance is uncanny 

[MrBig 5398]

On 10/11/2024 at 7:24 PM, mr. sunshine said:

Love Kevin Kline in, among other things I Love You to Death, which is way underrated. 1990 Best Picture - Driving Miss Daisy - nope. Best Actor - Daniel Day Lewis in My Left Foot - no arguing that one. That's one, arguably two, Oscars that should be on the Kline pile of win

What a fabulous window treatment

[Buzzrock 14920]

That's Vincent D'Onofrio's daughter? 

Mom is Greta Scacchi

[A-Tex Devil 2446]

Has Sasha Baron Cohen ever played such a down the middle “normal” role? I smell a twist with that character. Just through 1st episode. 

[Buzzrock 14920]

6 hours ago, A-Tex Devil said:

Has Sasha Baron Cohen ever played such a down the middle “normal” role? I smell a twist with that character. Just through 1st episode. 

I heard he was great in The Spy which was another recent straight role. 

[TwiceHorn 31475]

49 minutes ago, Buzzrock said:

I heard he was great in The Spy which was another recent straight role. 

I was having the same thought, but remembered this.  He was solid in The Spy, very solid.

[4th&Five 41554]

Fuck Apple for making me wait another week for episode 5. 

[Red Five 40859]

Blanchett looks pretty good for 55.

[naija 2854]

honestly that kid's life was all downhill anyways after that night

[Doc Sam Beckett 5793]

On 10/18/2024 at 12:22 PM, naija said:

honestly that kid's life was all downhill anyways after that night

He became a pussy eating expert, then died. It's like @Uncle Boobs, but Surly's uncle is still allegedly alive 

[Enchubben 5510]

young catherine could 100% get it. 

 

hell - old catherine could probably get it too. 

Edited October 21 by Enchubben

[sidis 9828]

leila george is obviously extremely sexy in this show when she's not being a vindictive sociopath. 

i have enjoyed it for the most part. 

Spoiler

i wonder if they are going to connect nicholas becoming such a fuck up loser to some sort of trauma of watching his mom riding some random's face.

 

[Red Five 40859]

Spoiler

Man, that turned really bad for that dude QUICKLY. One second he's smashing a smoking hot blonde in the bathroom, and the next he's drowning in the ocean. While she lets it happen. After he just saved her son's life. Fucked up scene and hard to watch.

 

[huge 3793]

1 hour ago, Red Five said:

  Hide contents

Man, that turned really bad for that dude QUICKLY. One second he's smashing a smoking hot blonde in the bathroom, and the next he's drowning in the ocean. While she lets it happen. After he just saved her son's life. Fucked up scene and hard to watch.

 

Agree.  She could have chosen me though and I would have gone ahead to Rome.  And maybe not drownded.

[wild_turkey 3159]

Finally caught up on this show. Can’t decide if I like it. Feels like a mix of The Affair with Big Little Lies.

So far, the plot is a little boring to me. Married woman and teenager have affair, teenager drowns, and years later the teenager’s parents seek vengeance by publishing a book to torment the adulteress. Nothing about that is all that groundbreaking, but we still have 3 episodes to go, so we shall see.

[A-Tex Devil 2446]

My biggest issue is how so many of the finer details of the Italy trip are known so well by the parents.  For instance - that she let the kid die via silence.   It makes me wonder if the flashbacks are actually an unreliable narrator.  The version the parents think happened.   
 

And they keep hammering the point that the Katherine character dies in the book.  That I am sure will mean something at some point. 

[4th&Five 41554]

That’s exactly what I assume the story is. Nancy’s version of events that she used to grieve Jonathan. 

[Red Five 40859]

My biggest issue is how so many of the finer details of the Italy trip are known so well by the parents.  For instance - that she let the kid die via silence.   It makes me wonder if the flashbacks are actually an unreliable narrator.  The version the parents think happened.   
 
And they keep hammering the point that the Katherine character dies in the book.  That I am sure will mean something at some point. 

“I bet he ate her pussy, like all the time.”

[wild_turkey 3159]

That’s exactly what I assume the story is. Nancy’s version of events that she used to grieve Jonathan. 

I assume that as well, but Nancy was consumed by grief and bitterness, so watching a story entirely through that lens is underwhelming. I’m hoping there will be some kind of twist or reveal similar to Atonement, where we realize that the story we’ve been fed is deliberately untrue and there is a deeper explanation.

[nycHorn 3009]

I thought the series started so strong and the last few episodes have been just ok. I’m assuming Catherine will finally get everyone to realize that the book is just some old lady’s delusional stories she made up and then Catherine gets to go John Wick on everyone. That is the only way to save this sniveling series.

[nycHorn 3009]

I thought the series started so strong and the last few episodes have been just ok. I’m assuming Catherine will finally get everyone to realize that the book is just some old lady’s delusional stories she made up and then Catherine gets to go John Wick on everyone. That is the only way to save this sniveling series.

Also I thought the background acting in the group scenes was almost laughably bad - the beach rescue and the office confrontation. Everyone clutching the book and their pearls as they record with their phones.

[TwiceHorn 31475]

This show is full of hateful, contemptible people all around.

The only characters I like are the cats.

[irishtexan 11519]

I'm still into it, but share many of the criticisms that have been levied in this thread. 

1) How would the dead kid's mom know the details of the affair and that she was complicit in the death of her son. It doesn't make sense. They're gonna have to fill in the gaps here for the show to satisfactorily resolve.

2) It started strong but it's sputtering a bit here in the last episode and there are some inconsistencies that are hard to believe. For instance, Kevin Cline shows up at her office, provides copies of the book for the whole office to read, they read the book while Catherine is on her way into the office, and they all believed what was written in the book before they aggressively confront her when she shows up for work? Yeah, I'm not buying it. No time to read the book and she'd get the benefit of the doubt from all of these colleagues that supposedly admired her brilliance. 

3) There aren't really any likeable characters. Even with Kevin Cline's character, I want to say "let it go, man. he's been dead for 20 years"

[wild_turkey 3159]

2) It started strong but it's sputtering a bit here in the last episode and there are some inconsistencies that are hard to believe. For instance, Kevin Cline shows up at her office, provides copies of the book for the whole office to read, they read the book while Catherine is on her way into the office, and they all believed what was written in the book before they aggressively confront her when she shows up for work? Yeah, I'm not buying it. No time to read the book and she'd get the benefit of the doubt from all of these colleagues that supposedly admired her brilliance. 

Catherine could definitely handle this situation better and minimize the damage. With regards to work, she should claim the book is entirely fiction. Maybe concede that she had met Johnathan in Italy but deny that anything ever happened and adamantly deny any involvement in his death (which btw is entirely speculative from everyone except her). The Italian police cleared her of any wrongdoing at the time, so the only thing against her is a bitter father who wasn’t there and couldn’t possibly know what happened. His book is fan fiction revenge at that point.

The pictures are somewhat damning but she could either say Johnathan stole them from her, or just admit that she had an affair 20 years ago, which would look bad but hardly career ending. Just deny deny deny on his death because how could she actually be guilty of a guy drowning at sea while she is on land with her traumatized child? The way she is now portrayed as completely helpless is a little annoying.

Also, she has an accomplished career and all it takes is for some stranger to show up with a book he claims is about her, and then her staff runs her out of the office with minimal discussion while multiple employees video her breakdown, all within a couple of hours. That would go down much differently in real life.

[wild_turkey 3159]

3) There aren't really any likeable characters. Even with Kevin Cline's character, I want to say "let it go, man. he's been dead for 20 years"

I like him the least.

Assuming the events we’ve seen in the past are true, Catherine is a pretty despicable person. She was an unfaithful wife and a negligent mother, and she possibly watched a person drown without signaling for help. But we don’t even know if the version of the past we’re seeing is true, because it’s being told from Nancy’s book.

By comparison, Stephen is using his dead wife’s questionable accounting of a tragedy to strategically ruin the lives of multiple strangers. Even if Nancy somehow knew the truth, his reaction to this information is psychopathic. He seems to develop some sadistic pleasure from watching the trapped bug die inside the glass, so maybe that’s just who he is now.

[Red Five 40859]

8 hours ago, irishtexan said:

1) How would the dead kid's mom know the details of the affair and that she was complicit in the death of her son. It doesn't make sense. They're gonna have to fill in the gaps here for the show to satisfactorily resolve.

Yeah, the entire premise of the show to this point makes no sense. I'm curious how they're going to resolve this. Did Catherine confess everything at some point?

[brojangles2 786]

Episodes are always available on Thursday for me, I'm assuming it's that way across the board. Nobody else watches on Thursday it seems. 

[4th&Five 41554]

Intense. Looking fwd to the conclusion. 

[Catdaddyhorn 3444]

On 10/25/2024 at 8:08 PM, nycHorn said:

Also I thought the background acting in the group scenes was almost laughably bad - the beach rescue and the office confrontation. Everyone clutching the book and their pearls as they record with their phones.

I feel like a lot of British shows especially British shows on Netflix drip with this overly dramatic, over the top element. They sort of suck at subtlety.

[TwiceHorn 31475]

One thing that bugs me, even if Nancy's "narration" is 100% accurate, it's a stretch to blame Catherine for Jonathan's death.  Which just demonstrates that Nancy and Stephen are fucking psychos and lose all sympathy for losing their son.

At worst, Catherine is a bit of a whore.

[CurlyDumps 4471]

On 10/29/2024 at 11:07 AM, wild_turkey said:

Also, she has an accomplished career and all it takes is for some stranger to show up with a book he claims is about her, and then her staff runs her out of the office with minimal discussion while multiple employees video her breakdown, all within a couple of hours. That would go down much differently in real life.

 

Yeah, the office immediately taking the side of the shabby, disheveled, paranoid old man...okay.gif. that sequence was bad.

[wild_turkey 3159]

I’m hoping there will be some kind of twist or reveal similar to Atonement, where we realize that the story we’ve been fed is deliberately untrue and there is a deeper explanation.

Well it seems to be headed in that direction, which I enjoy, and will quite possibly redeem the series for me.

I do get frustrated with certain scenes that seem to be sloppy writing or directing. Catherine’s breakdown at the office was a good example.

In this most recent episode, I have a very hard time believing that an altercation could occur in an ICU and the hospital staff would take the side of an unidentified disheveled old man over the actual mother of the patient. Not enough questions were asked there and she got swept away with way too little of a fight.

Also, in his house, he crushes up sleeping pills and mixes them into her tea while she watches from 10 feet away. I suppose they need that plot device, but come on. She’s paranoid enough to be holding a knife but she’s aloof enough to not pay attention to what he’s doing and to also accept tea from this deranged old man who is ruining her life? Don’t even get me started on the nurse who said he should only take 1 pill but gave him 10 pills. Just sloppy and surely with a little effort they could write that better.

[CurlyDumps 4471]

I bumped on all the same stuff.  Hoping there's some kind of cool twist beyond the obvious unreliable narrator reveal. Would that even count as a twist? The show doesn't seem to be attempting to obscure the fact that we've been getting the book version of events.

 

[sidis 9828]

19 hours ago, wild_turkey said:

 

Well it seems to be headed in that direction, which I enjoy, and will quite possibly redeem the series for me.

I do get frustrated with certain scenes that seem to be sloppy writing or directing. Catherine’s breakdown at the office was a good example.

In this most recent episode, I have a very hard time believing that an altercation could occur in an ICU and the hospital staff would take the side of an unidentified disheveled old man over the actual mother of the patient. Not enough questions were asked there and she got swept away with way too little of a fight.

Also, in his house, he crushes up sleeping pills and mixes them into her tea while she watches from 10 feet away. I suppose they need that plot device, but come on. She’s paranoid enough to be holding a knife but she’s aloof enough to not pay attention to what he’s doing and to also accept tea from this deranged old man who is ruining her life? Don’t even get me started on the nurse who said he should only take 1 pill but gave him 10 pills. Just sloppy and surely with a little effort they could write that better.

 

100% agree across the board.

[bschoolprof 6254]

I was a little slow in realizing it, but I found myself asking in episode 4 or 5 how the mom knew so many details about what actually happened. And then I connected it to the fact that most of Kevin Kline's knowledge of the whole affair came from the book. So then it hit me this was all just some imagined version of the truth, hence the disclaimer title.  

I recall when they saw Jonathon's body they found some mark on his arm.  Has that been explained?  If not, it could be connected to what really happened.  

 

[TwiceHorn 31475]

34 minutes ago, bschoolprof said:

I was a little slow in realizing it, but I found myself asking in episode 4 or 5 how the mom knew so many details about what actually happened. And then I connected it to the fact that most of Kevin Kline's knowledge of the whole affair came from the book. So then it hit me this was all just some imagined version of the truth, hence the disclaimer title.  

I recall when they saw Jonathon's body they found some mark on his arm.  Has that been explained?  If not, it could be connected to what really happened.  

 

Yeah, I knew this relatively early on but it went to the back of my mind until Stephen started trying to kill people.  I don't guess we'll ever know, but I think Stephen was a much more resilient and sane person than Nancy, but she drove him batshit.