The last time I saw such a good book adaptation was back in 2014 (how was that 10 years ago?! 😭) with Gone Girl, one of my all time favourite psychological thrillers. And now I realize how long that movie adaptation was – 2 hours and 30 minutes, which is mabye crazy for a movie, but it worked perfectly for that one. And I think Disclaimer would’ve worked better as a longer movie instead of a series, too.
Despite my personal preference for the format of the adaptation, Disclaimer was a really good psychological thriller series that I fully recommend. Back in 2015, the book by the same name written by Renée Knight, was published. I don’t think the book was received too great by the reading community, and I personally haven’t heard of it until I heard about the series, but I really liked it.
Disclaimer is a very slow burn psychological thriller that felt a bit like torture, the author choosing not to give away almost any clues up until the very end of the book. Going back and forth between the past and the present, all you know is that Catherine, the main character, is keeping a very dark secret. There is almost nothing you can say about this book without giving away the final twist, so all I will say is that you have to read and be patient with every chapter until you reach the shocking finale.
Alfonso Cuarón is a great filmmaker and I am a fan of his work, this being one of the reasons I was so excited to watch this series (which he wrote and directed), an original Apple TV+ production for which Finneas signed the soundtrack – another one of my favourite artists. And my excitement was not met by disappointed, but I did find it a bit strange that there were only 7 episodes in total. The last episode, and maybe the most important one, felt a bit rushed.
Catherine Ravenscroft, played by the beautifully talented Cate Blanchett, is a renowned documentary filmmaker who discovers she is the main character in a novel that seems to be trying to reveal a very dark secret she has kept hidden for years. And in the same way that I cannot say a lot about the book without giving the plot away, I cannot really say too much about this limited without spoiling the idea and the premise of the show. However, if you enjoy this type of stories, psychological thrillers, then Disclaimer one is a very, very good choice indeed. Dark, moody, and acted so well by Cate Blanchett and the entire cast: Kevin Kline, Sacha Baron Cohen, Kodi Smit-McPhee, Louis Partridge, Leila George and Lesley Manville, plus that beautiful score composed by Finneas wraps everything together so nicely. The series made its debut at the 81st Venice International Film Festival before having its premiere on Apple TV+ where is now available to stream in full.
I was uncomfortable being looked at. No, I didn’t like being in the spotlight.
What I’ve noticed to be different in the series versus the book: spoiler alert
- the holiday takes place in Italy instead of Spain as it is in the book
- Catherine and Robert Ravenscroft, as well as Stephen Brigstocke each have a cat in their households, which is not a detail present in the book
- Stephen donates Nancy’s items personally to a local charity shop, making a recurring visit and chatting with the staff members there, but in the series he has some people come and collect Nancy’s belongings
- in the series, Catherine opens the mail and finds the book in one of the envelopes, but in the book she randomly finds it on her nightstand thinking it must’ve been misplaced by somebody in the move
- Jonathan and Sasha have more screentime than expected, as their relationship is not presented too much in the book
- Nancy moves to Jonathan’s room to write and be alone, but in the book she moves to his flat; in the series Jonathan is still leaving with his parents before travelling across Europe
- the people that Stephen encounters on the bus are called by him black, European etc., in the book, but in the series this has been amended probably to avoid any racist nuance which is what the author intended to show in Stephen’s character
- only in the series all of Catherine’s work colleagues are given a copy of the book
- Stephen doesn’t get hurt as bad as shown in the series when Catherine finds him next to Nicholas’ hospital bed
- Stephen doesn’t drug Catherine in the book and he doesn’t go back to the hospital afterwards
- Catherine is the one that discovers Nicholas’ shadow on one of the undeveloped films, but in the series it is shown that Stephen notices this before burning the evidence
- in the book, Stephen dies by suicide setting himself on fire, but before this he leaves the house on Catherine’s name, which is slightly not what happens in the series
- in the book, Stephen is the one that tells Robert the truth of what actually happened between his son and Catherine
Trailer:
