The mysterious death of Kathleen Peterson in 2001 spawned a famous documentary series in 2004, called "The Staircase." It was one of the major pieces of true crime media that spurred the current wave of true crime fascination, and has been subject to a fair amount of scrutiny. An NBC sitcom, "Trial & Error," even delivered a parody version of it a few years ago.
"The Staircase" miniseries might be accused of being redundant if it weren't for the show not only dramatizing the Peterson case, but the making of the original "Staircase" documentary along with it. The show's creator, Antonio Campos, starts from the assumption that there is no definite answer as to what actually happened to Kathleen, played by Toni Colette. In different episodes he shows Kathleen dying multiple times in accordance with all the different theories - it was an accident, Kathleen was viciously killed by her husband Michael (Colin Firth), Kathleen was the victim of an animal attack, etc. The story moves ahead in real time after her death, following the investigation and trial of Michael, the struggles of the Peterson children, and the eventual involvement of a troupe of filmmakers from France, including director Jean-Xavier de Lestrade (Vincent Vermignon) and editor Sophie (Juliette Binoche). However, as more information is uncovered about Michael, there are many flashbacks to different versions of Kathleen's final days throughout the show.
I'm glad that the show gives Toni Colette plenty to do, playing an imperfect woman trying to cope in a difficult marriage rather than an unfortunate victim. However, the miniseries is really all about Michael - his relationships to his kids, his seeming inability to tell the whole truth to anybody, and his thirteen year relationship with Sophie - the big, fat part of the story that wasn't examined in that original, much lauded "Staircase" documentary. It's clear that Campos was motivated to make the miniseries in order to comment on the tactics and biases of documentarians. They're never shown as particularly unscrupulous, and no one ever comments on the veracity or quality of the documentary itself. He just shows the often uncomfortable intimacy that the film crew shared with the Petersons, and how Sophie's relationship with Michael deeply affected her life.
I haven't seen the documentary version of "The Staircase" and didn't follow the case while it was happening, so I'd like to think I came to the miniseries without any major preconceptions about Michael Peterson's guilt or innocence. It's clear what drew an actor of Colin Firth's stature to the project - Peterson is a fascinating enigma. He was a man who kept a lot of secrets, and had a lot of ambitions. He was a questionable partner, father, and human being, but did he really have the motive to kill his wife? Campos has many different characters grapple with this question over the course of the series - Peterson's sons Clayton (Dan DeHaan) and Todd (Patrick Schwarzenegger), his adopted daughters Margaret (Sophie Turner) and Martha (Odessa Young), his brother Bill (Tim Guinee), his lawyer David Rudolph (Michael Stuhlbarg), and eventually Sophie.
However, as much as I admire the ideas behind "The Staircase, " and appreciate the quality of all the work that went into it, the miniseries is a pretty tough watch. With the narrative constantly doubling back on itself, it feels repetitive, and the lack of answers is frustrating. The momentum from the investigation and court case keep the show interesting in the first half, but this is gone by the second half, and things slow to a slog. I can't imagine watching the miniseries if you already watched the documentary and knew how all of the legal proceedings were going to turn out. There are some strong performances from dependable actors, and if you like a good melodrama, this might be worth a look.
It's helpful to compare "The Staircase" to "Landscapers," a British true crime series that came out earlier in the year, and was also about how media narratives affect perceptions of innocence and guilt. In that case, however, there was never any question as to how the crime was committed and who was guilty. Rather, "Landscaper" was about how the media framed reality to its own ends. Here, "The Staircase" is still about the mystery of the Petersons, and ultimately doesn't say much about the involvement of the media. At most, it suggests that Michael Peterson was able to fool and manipulate the filmmakers to his benefit the same way he did with his family.
Campos goes more in depth on many details, and brings new information, and new points of view, but I get the sense that this is still, in all the ways that matter, the same story.
---
No comments:
Post a Comment