Anatomy Of A Scandal Review: Netflix’s Modest Legal Drama Drying Up Of A Potentially Intriguing
Starring: Sienna Miller, Michelle Dockery, Rupert Friend
Director: S. J. Clarkson
Streaming Platform: Netflix (click to watch)
Filmyhype.com Ratings: 3/5 (three star) [yasr_overall_rating size=”large”]
Anatomy Of A Scandal Review: Within the entertainment scenario in which we find ourselves Netflix has certainly given a decisive push towards the methods of streaming and immediate viewing of products, moving the market in the direction of those subscription methods that now predominate in all sectors, from cinema to gaming. His role as a forerunner, which arrived together with the initial domination of this newborn sector, however, forced the giant led by Reed Hastings to increasingly strategies aimed at consolidating its position, rather than recruiting a new slice of the public.
While other streaming platforms seem to want to focus on more sought after titles (and therefore intrinsically more dangerous), Netflix seeks the security given by authors who never betray expectations: it is within this perspective that Anatomy of a Scandal is born, the ‘latest show created by David E. Kelley, which debuts among the Netflix TV series of April 2022. The American screenwriter and producer is a backbone of the legal drama, in his mind we owe unforgettable shows like Ally McBeal and Big Little Lies, and for a streaming platform it can only be a bargain to grab the rights of his latest creation. Unfortunately, Anatomy of a Scandal is a show that does not involve the viewer despite not being characterized by major structural errors: the plot evolves at the right pace and its legal part can intrigue, but in the long run boredom emerges due to a message of dull and unexciting background.
Anatomy Of A Scandal Review: The Story
The brotherhood of Libertines has taken off from the Oxford classrooms to reach the supreme ranks of the British government: the members of this exclusive association are in fact the offspring of high-ranking families, privileged men to whom the world is given on a silver platter. After attending Britain’s most prestigious university James Whitehouse (Rupert Friend) has become Minister for the Conservative Government chaired by his best friend Tom Southern (Geoffrey Streatfield), has two children and is married to Sophie (Sienna Miller), a woman who – having managed to seduce this young politician destined for great things – she has no other aspirations in life.
The minister’s glittering career is set to take off with the unveiling of a new immigration law, but a personal scandal slows down his glorious aspirations: Olivia Lytton (Naomi Scott), his aide, goes public with their report by sending in shattered the honest family man facade that James had built. Despite the initial shock, the minister appears to be able to take back the reins of his own life, while his wife also begins to come to terms with the betrayal, as if the fling was something he might have foreseen. The situation escalates when Olivia files a complaint to the authorities, claiming that her relationship with her employer was not a simple romantic relationship the former assistant claims she was raped by the young minister and her lawyer will do everything to frame a man who has never received “no” for an answer in his entire life.
Anatomy Of A Scandal Review Ana Analysis
The plot of the Netflix show unfolds through three lines of narrative that follow the consequences of the trial on the lives of the protagonists James forced to manage the discontent in the inner circle of the British Prime Minister, Sophie who collects the pieces of his shattered family life, and lawyer Kate Woodcroft (Michelle Dockery) preparing for a lost legal battle. These three very different stories – each particular and intimate, but monotonous and at times disconnected from the real fulcrum of the story, which tediously extend the time away – converge in the central hub of the show, the courtroom trial. The accusation of sexual harassment is extremely complicated for the lawyer Woodcroft to prove, because between his client and the accused there was a romantic relationship but closed a few weeks before the alleged rape in the elevator.
From the pivotal question of this process we can eradicate the fundamental characteristic on which the whole story is based, and on which the fate of the Netflix show depends: the nature of consensus. The doubt raised by James’ defense is indeed legitimate and thorny at the same time and moves between the nuanced lines of an effective denial that Olivia may never have expressed. Anatomy of a Scandal could make better use of the grays of such a complicated moral issue but chooses to rely on a black and white narrative, where there is no room for a personal and engaging interpretation for the viewer, because one of the two sides in question is simply lying.
The most successful sequences of the show are certainly the legal ones, because outside the courthouse Anatomy of a Scandal never manages to raise intriguing ideas from a dramaturgical point of view. The writers have chosen to eliminate from the equation any external influences on the process that could have reinvigorated the plot – such as the public reaction to the scandal, or the judgments that have closed many similar cases in recent years – to devote themselves completely to the question of consensus, with timid hints of a reaction against that class of privileged people who dominate the British government.
The testimonies that underpin the trial are well written and manage to be engaging, also thanks to a dramatic and passionate vein that winks at the viewer and his amusement, but which would never find space in a real court case because based on digressions irrelevant to the case in question. Outside the court, the series is lost in dull and unexciting sentimentality, held in check by a basic message that the plot did not want to fathom, probably for fear of being extremist for the public to which it is addressed. The spectator is never left in a position to be able to form his own interpretation of the events and characters, everything is described in detail by constant and intrusive flashbacks a somewhat lazy narrative stratagem that in the long run impoverishes a story that fails to fascinate.
David E. Kelley’s show proudly fits into the ultra-accessible trend Netflix is creating, a zero-risk strategy that wants to speak to the widest audience without fearing to upset anyone. You never play on unspoken words or silences in Anatomy of a Scandal, everything is put on display and is to be taken as it is, without dwelling too much on it. Unfortunately, this does not do justice to an issue that is social even before it is legal, and which deserved a more delicate and open treatment to the divergent opinions of the public.
The good cast put together by the production must be content to follow the indications of a plot devoid of passion, doing their job effectively but without remaining imprinted in the memory. The direction often plays with the movements of the camera, trying to stir up a little the still waters in which the title stagnates, succeeding in some intriguing and dynamic sequences, while others – including reckless transitions and dreamlike scenes – are very distant. from the concreteness and efficiency that should characterize a legal drama.
Anatomy Of A Scandal Review: The Last Words
The latest creation by David E. Kelley accepts the compromise policy pursued by Netflix, which leads to the drying up of a potentially intriguing story for fear of alienating a large portion of the public. The question of consent and the ever-widening limit of the allowed that is assured to the privileged of the world are analyzed without flashes by a plot that is based on black and white, avoiding the much more fascinating grays that would have raised the moral question raised by the product. The course of the trial manages to entertain thanks to the passionate testimonies of the parties involved, but the narration outside the court is lost in dull sentimentality and not at all engaging. The good cast are not given the means to shine.
