Netflix’s Unbelievable Is a Gutting, Painstaking Depiction of Sexual Assault
Television has increasingly been reckoning with the scourge of sexual misconduct in recent years, but all too often, nuanced portrayals of survivors’ stories still get edged out in favor of maximum shock value; for every Tuca & Bertie, there’s a 13 Reasons Why turning sexual assault—a crime that occurs in America every 92 seconds—into trauma porn.
Unbelievable, the crime drama that hit Netflix on Friday, lands far afield of the trauma-porn category. Based on the Pulitzer Prize–winning 2015 ProPublica article “An Unbelievable Story of Rape” by reporters T. Christian Miller and Ken Armstrong, Unbelievable tells the story of Marie, a teenager charged with lying about having been raped before two female detectives uncover a string of assaults eerily similar to hers.
Unbelievable doesn’t make for easy watching—the show opens with a trigger warning you’ll want to take seriously—but it’s one of the most complex onscreen depictions of sexual assault in recent memory. The violence isn’t gratuitous, the story’s investigative arc is female-driven, and, most importantly, the agonizing question of how to go on living in the wake of sexual violence is treated with care. Before you settle in to stream all eight episodes, here’s all the background info you need on the show.
Who’s in the cast?
Kaitlyn Dever, who starred in this summer’s Booksmart, plays Marie, with Toni Collette and Merritt Wever as the detectives investigating her case. Danielle Macdonald, who starred in the Netflix film Dumplin’, also stars.
Who created the show?
Married novelists Michael Chabon and Ayelet Waldman co-created the series with Erin Brockovich writer Susannah Grant. Katie Couric is also onboard as an executive producer.
What’s the real-life story behind the show?
In 2009, 18-year-old Marie (identified only by her middle name) was charged with a misdemeanor in Lynnwood, Washington, for filing a false report after reporting being raped by a man in her apartment and later telling police that she had made the story up. Several years later, detectives in Colorado, led by detectives Stacy Galbraith and Edna Hendershot, connected a string of local rapes to Marie’s attack, soon finding the attacker—who had photos on his computer that confirmed Marie’s original story.
What happened to the real-life survivor whose story inspired the show?
In 2014, Marie settled a lawsuit against the city of Lynnwood for $150,000. She is still in touch with Miller and Armstrong, who told NPR in February 2018 that Marie now works as a long-haul truck driver. Said Armstrong, “She and I speak fairly often. And it seems like every time I talk to her she’s in a different state. She is strong. And she is resilient.”
Originally Appeared on Vogue
