✕ ✕
Turning tips into memories
Login
Signup

You have reached the limit of free articles.


To enjoy unlimited access to Culture Whisper sign up for FREE.
Find out more about Culture Whisper

Please fix the following input errors:

  • dummy

Each week, we send newsletters and communication featuring articles, our latest tickets invitations, and exclusive offers.

Occasional information about discounts, special offers and promotions.


OR
LOG IN

OR
  • LOG IN WITH FACEBOOK

Thanks for signing up to Culture Whisper.
Please check your inbox for a confirmation email and click the link to verify your account.



EXPLORE CULTURE WHISPER
✕ ✕
Turning tips into memories
Login
Signup

Please fix the following input errors:

  • dummy
Forgot your username or password?
Don't have an account? Sign Up

OR
  • LOG IN WITH FACEBOOK

If you click «Log in with Facebook» and are not a Culture Whisper user, you agree to our Terms & Conditions and to our Privacy Policy, which includes our Cookie Use

Support Us Login
  • Home
  • Going Out
    • Things to do
    • Food & Drink
    • Theatre
    • Visual Arts
    • Cinema
    • Kids
    • Festival
    • Gigs
    • Dance
    • Classical Music
    • Opera
    • Immersive
    • Talks
  • Staying In
    • TV
    • Books
    • Cook
    • Podcast
    • Design
    • Netflix
  • Life & Style
    • Beauty
    • Fashion
    • Gifting
    • Wellbeing
    • Lifestyle
    • Shopping
    • Jewellery
  • Explore
  • Shopping
  • CW SHOPS
  • Support Us
  • Get Started
  • Tickets
  • CW SHOPS
Get the Best of London Life, Culture and Style
By entering my email I agree to the CultureWhisper Privacy Policy (we won`t share data & you can unsubscribe anytime).
TV

Alias Grace, Netflix review ★★★★★

03 Nov 17 – 31 Jan 18, 8:00 AM – 12:00 AM

Truth is more powerful than fiction: Alias Grace is the Atwood adaptation every feminist needs to see

By Helena Kealey on 3/11/2017

3 CW readers are interested
Alais Grace on Netflix, November 2017
Alais Grace on Netflix, November 2017
Alias Grace, Netflix review 4 Alias Grace, Netflix review Helena Kealey
Netflix adaptation of the Margaret Atwood novel Alias Grace was never going to avoid comparisons with The Handmaid's Tale, which Hulu released earlier this year and which went on to win an Emmy for an Outstanding Drama Series.


Although both books written by the prominent Canadian author have been hailed as bastions of feminist literature, it is The Handmaid's Tale that is most often quoted by feminist writers and thinkers. It depicts a future, fantasy landscape in which women are subjected to total control by men and illustrates how easily hard-earned rights might be taken from us.


However, those looking for a story exposing the nightmare of womanhood are better served by Netflix's own Atwood adaptation, Alias Grace. It turns out, reality is more powerful than fantasy.



Netflix's Alias Grace offers a horrifying look at the real circumstances of a woman called Grace Marks. In the 1840s Marks was an Irish immigrant who arrived in Canada with no money and a recently deceased mother to boot.


As a young woman, Marks found herself convicted of the murder of her employer Thomas Kinnear and the housekeeper, Nancy Montgomery. She spent 30 years in the penitentiary, eventually being declared innocent and released 30 years after her conviction. Her fellow employee, James McDermott (Kerr Logan) was sentenced to death.


Atwood gives us an imagined biography of this real-life woman. In her version of the story, Marks (Sarah Gadon) is taken from prison each morning to the house of the governor where she's employed to work as a maid and where she sits with a curious and kindly psychologist to tell her tale of woe.

And what a tale of woe it is. Perched in various corners of the house, she sits making quilts for the eldest daughter of the family and dredging up her past. This vulnerable young girl finds herself thrust into a world in which women are always responsible for the terrible things men do to them. She reminds the kindly doctor that if a man is found in a woman's bedroom, it's always her fault that he's there, no matter how he got in.


Through her careful allusion to things she's too embarrassed to state explicitly, Marks paints horrifying pictures of sexual assault, the regular (in fact it seems practically compulsory) abuse of maids by their male employers, the appalling consequences for those women in an atmosphere of blame and oppression.

There are no exciting chase scenes, or unnecessarily gratuitous moments. But if a delicately told story exposing female oppression is why you turn to Margaret Atwood, then the reality of what life was like for girls not that long ago leaves a stronger taste in the mouth than a fictionalised future in which woman might loose the rights we have won.


What Alias Grace, Netflix review
Where UK Netflix | MAP
When 03 Nov 17 – 31 Jan 18, 8:00 AM – 12:00 AM
Price £n/a
Website



Most popular

Things to do in London this weekend: 17–19 March
Things to do in London this weekend: 17–19 March
Best art exhibitions in London. Photo: Thin Air at the Beams
Top exhibitions on now in London
Irene Maiorino and Alba Rohrwacher in My Brilliant Friend season 4, HBO/Sky Atlantic (Photo: HBO)
My Brilliant Friend, season 4, Sky Atlantic: first-look photo, release date, plot, cast

Editor's Picks

Handmaid's Tale, Hulu
Looking Forward: the best TV to enjoy in 2017
We Hot American Summer: Ten Years Later UK Netflix
New to UK Netflix this August 2017
New shop openings in London in 2018
See what's in store: new shops opening in London in 2018
London theatre: August highlights
London Theatre: August highlights
Blockbuster summer movies 2017
Summer's blockbusters: 2017's best films
To The Bone, Lily Collins and Keanu Reeves
To The Bone, review
Sign up to CW’s newsletter
By entering my email I agree to the CultureWhisper Privacy Policy (we won`t share data & you can unsubscribe anytime).
3

TV

Margaret Atwood

You might like

  • The Handmaid's Tale review Channel 4: [STAR:5]

    The Handmaid's Tale review Channel 4: ★★★★★

  • The State, Channel 4

    The State, Channel 4

  • Strike: The Cuckoo's Calling

    Strike: The Cuckoo's Calling, BBC One review ★★★★★

  • The Tick, Amazon Prime

    The Tick, Amazon Prime

  • Trust Me, Jodie Whittaker, BBC One

    Trust Me on BBC One review ★★★★★

  • Ozark, UK Netflix 2017

    Ozark Netflix review: ★★★★★



  • The Culture Whisper team
  • Support Us
  • Tickets
  • Contact us
  • Press
  • FAQ
  • Privacy
  • Terms and conditions
  • Cookies
  • Discover
  • Venues
  • Restaurants
  • Stations
  • Boroughs
Sign up to CW’s newsletter
By entering my email I agree to the CultureWhisper Privacy Policy (we won`t share data & you can unsubscribe anytime).
×