Five-time Academy Award winner Alfonso Cuarón adapts Renée Knight’s novel into a seven-part psychological thriller about a journalist, played by Cate Blanchett, who is threatened with the exposure of her darkest secret.
In Disclaimer, celebrated journalist Catherine Ravenscroft — played by two-time Academy Award winner and TIFF Share Her Journey Groundbreaker Award recipient Cate Blanchett — has made a career out of exposing the transgressions of others. One day, she receives a mysterious book in the mail. Reading it, she soon realizes the novel’s protagonist is based on her younger self, and the plot reveals her deepest, darkest secret.
Who sent it? What do they want? And how will Catherine protect her husband Robert (Sacha Baron Cohen), her son Nicholas (Kodi Smit-McPhee), and her own reputation if others connect the novel to her past? These are the questions Alfonso Cuarón explores in his seven-part psychological thriller adapted from Renée Knight’s 2015 novel of the same name. In his first foray into serialized storytelling, Cuarón takes full advantage of the format, jumping from past to present, exploring how perceptions, even flawed ones, can be unwavering, and how love can obscure truth.
Matching Blanchett’s brilliance is Kevin Kline, who plays Stephen Brigstocke, one of many characters wrestling with the implications of the mysterious book. Rounding out the incredible cast is Lesley Manville, Louis Partridge, Leila George, and Hoyeon, all at their absolute best. The moral trajectory of their characters and the complexity of the narrative illustrate the best aspects of a 21st-century novel. Luckily, it’s also in the meticulous hands of one of cinema’s greatest filmmakers.
GEOFF MACNAUGHTON
Content advisory: mature themes, nudity
Screenings
Royal Alexandra Theatre
TIFF Lightbox 1
Scotiabank 2
Scotiabank 3