TIME criticizes Netflix series about Lizzie Borden for simplifying the theme of anger
American publication TIME criticized the Netflix anthology season “Monster: The Lizzie Borden Story,” dedicated to the case of Lizzie Borden from Fall River, United States. According to the reviewer, the series declares women’s anger and the oppression of women as its themes, but offers no new or convincing perspective on them.
Combination of three stories
The season reinterprets the 1892 case involving the deaths of Borden’s father and stepmother from axe blows. TIME notes that Lizzie Borden likely killed them, while the show freely combines facts with half-truths, rumors, and fictional episodes.
Ian Brennan, the writer of all episodes, connects Borden’s story with the figures of 16th-century Hungarian aristocrat Elizabeth Báthory and American serial killer Aileen Wuornos. According to TIME, this comparison is overly simplistic, as the motives and life circumstances of these women differed significantly. Wuornos, played by Sarah Paulson, appears only nearly halfway through the season.
More current news is available on the UA.News Telegram channel Telegram.
Inaccuracies and performances
Lizzie Borden was played by 26-year-old Ella Beatty, her father by Charlie Hunnam, and her stepmother by Rebecca Hall. The reviewer notes that the series’ characters are considerably younger and more attractive than their historical prototypes. Among episodes that did not occur or differed substantially from real events, the review mentions oyster poisoning and the murder of Bertha Manchester.
TIME separately praised Vicky Krieps’ performance as the maid Bridget Sullivan, whom the family called Maggie. The series introduces a fictional romantic storyline between Lizzie and Maggie; a similar approach was already used in the 2018 film “Lizzie” starring Chloë Sevigny and Kristen Stewart.
The publication also positively assessed the work of production designer Matthew Flood Ferguson on Gilded Age interiors. At the same time, the review believes that numerous scenes of violence and the emphasis on the suffering of the female body do not form a clear statement. The author also questions what the series is trying to say by combining the characters’ queerness and their crimes.
