Rape doesn’t target a certain demographic, it isn’t always clear-cut, and it certainly doesn’t need to be sensationalized for the purpose of entertainment. The creators behind Netflix’s Unbelievable, understand this, and the eight episode limited series shows it. This week, I attended a roundtable interview of Writer, Director and Showrunner, Susannah Grant, Showrunner, Sarah Timberman and Director, Lisa Cholodenko to get an inside look on the series and how it came to be.
Unbelievable tells the story of two detectives tracking a serial rapist, while also focusing on a victim facing the aftermath of her attack. It’s based on the Pulitzer-winning investigative reporting done by ProPublica and The Marshall Project published in 2015; although, viewers not familiar with the article should perhaps wait until after watching the series to check it out. This is because the forces at work behind the camera on Unbelievable, including executive producers Susannah Grant, Sarah Timberman, and director Lisa Cholodenko, discuss the necessity for truth, and the series’ adherence to the events of the original article displays a powerful method of storytelling.
“The story revealed things in our culture that not a lot of people have looked at, and it did it in a way that was incredibly engaging. It didn’t feel like it needed a lot of enhancement, it wasn’t necessary. I also thought that the story needed credibility. The truth worked, why mess with it?” said Grant.
The series’ methods shouldn’t feel unique, or particularly dynamic; however, conscious decisions made behind the scenes have placed the victims, and a battle against an unfair justice system, at the forefront of the show’s conversation. The first episode opens on Marie (Kaitlyn Dever), a young woman who lives alone in a community for at-risk youth. She recounts her rape to the police officers who launch an investigation. However, when those closest to her begin to doubt her accusations, Marie’s story is deemed inconsistent and unreliable. The second episode opens up a new story, focused on Detectives Karen Duvall (Merritt Wever) and Grace Rasmussen (Toni Collette), who join forces after noticing similarities in rapes which took place in their respective jurisdictions. The rest of the series continues in this style, switching between the fallout of Marie’s accusation, and Duvall and Rasmussen’s hunt for a serial rapist.
The show often chooses to depict assault in the form of memories, brief glimpses into an act that, in reality, lasted for hours. There are three depictions of sexual assault in the show; however, there’s only one shot of nudity present in the series’ entirety, and it’s of the rapist. It’s a direct correlation to the way he dehumanizes his victims, and comes full circle by placing him in a rare moment of vulnerability. Cholodenko makes a direct effort to provide this symmetry throughout the series, and it’s a clear reflection in a variety of momentous scenes.
“I can’t imagine a way to shoot it more effectively and more powerfully than that. Just from her point of view, and the quick glimpses that are a view of her face are objectively devastating. I can’t imagine wanting to show more than what Lisa did, and yet so many people do… None of us wanted to make anything that felt exploitative. It felt like there had been a lot of treatments of rape that make me unomfortable, and we didn’t want to be a part of anything like that,” said Timberman.
Another integral piece of the show places significance on the types of women the rapist targets. They don’t look a certain way, and they don’t come from the same places. They’re simply women who live alone, and anyone can be a victim. With this in mind, casting plays a large part of what makes Unbelievable special. Danielle Macdonald and Vanessa Bell Calloway accompany Dever in a heart-wrenching performance, while allowing viewers to witness their characters foremost as humans, not victims.
“One of the luxuries of this eight hour format is that you can be telling a story that’s primarily about how we hear and listen to victims of sexual assault, but you have the eight hours to open up a whole lot of other ideas. I would hope that people entertain all of them,” said Grant.
Sexual assault, inequality of the sexes, and a broken criminal justice system are just three of the hard-hitting topics the series manages to confront. These focuses are presented in an original fashion, and have the ability to put things in perspective for viewers who may not be aware that their actions have consequences. These are sentiments and lessons that should be understood by anyone who watches the show.
“I feel like this conversation is happening on college campuses and hopefully it will be amplified to the people above. The young people I talk to, this is alive in their world. I have an 18 year-old son as well, and I think that this made him understand what he was talking about at a more visceral level. Maybe it will lead to a more empathetic and entrenched conversation,” said Grant.
Overall, Grant, Timberman, and Cholodenko remind viewers that resources are available for those who need it. Unbelievable serves as a reminder for how easy it may be for women to equivocate their own minds, and go to a place of cognitive dissonance in situations such as those represented on the show. However, there is a strength and power represented here that defies a natural inclination to remain alone in these cases. Overall, Unbelievable is a show that manages to give some justice back to women in an entertainment culture that has successfully thrived off the exploitation of victims. This dynamic is inherently satisfying, and it provides a clear view of the intentions of those behind the camera. In the end, Unbelievable isn’t simply a story told, it’s a story told right.
Unbelievable premieres Friday, September 13 on Netflix.
Leading actresses on the TODAY show speaking about Unbelievable