“The Staircase: Limited Series” will appeal to those who love murder case drama series, with wonderful performances but yet a storyline that just leaves you feeling a bit saddened.
Click here to purchase “The Staircase: Limited Series” on Amazon
TV SERIES: The Staircase: Limited Series
YEAR: 2023
DVD INFORMATION: Dolby Digital English 5.1, Subtitles: English SDH
DURATION: EPISODE 1-10 (397 Minutes)
RELEASE DATE: December 27, 2022
Created by Antonio Campos
Directed by Antonio Campos, Leigh Janlak
Written by Antonio Campos, Maggie Cohn, Emily Kaczmarek, Craig Shilowich
Executive Producer: Antonio Campos, Maggie Cohn, Carol Cuddy, Megan Ellison, Ali Krug, Sue Naegle, Harrison Ford
Co-Executive Producer: Matthew Belghiti, Jean-Xavier de Lestrade, Zelda Wengrod
Producer: Christina M. Fitzgerald, Emily Kaczmarek, Randall Postyer, Craig Shilowich, Marsha L. Swinton
Co-Producer: Sofia Subercaseaux, Bryan Thomas
Associate Producer: Laruren Jeu
Music by Danny Bensi Saunder Jurriaans
Cinematography: Lyle Vincent, Michael Svitak
Edited by Christopher Rand, Shelby Siegel, Eric Spang, Sofia Subercaseaux
Casting by Douglas Aibel
Production Design by Michael Shaw
Art Direction: Nicole Elespuru, Joseph Nadeau
Set Decoration: Edward McLoughlin, Sechita McNair
Costume Design: Jennifer Starzyk
Starring:
Colin Firth as Michael Peterson
Toni Collette as Kathleen
Michael Stuhlbarg as David Rudolf
Patrick Schwarznegger as Todd Peterson
Sophie Turner as Margaret Ratliff
Odessa Young as Martha Ratliff
Dane DeHaan as Clayton Peterson
Tim Guinee as Bill Peterson
Vincent Vermignon as Jean-Xavier
Juliette Binoche as Sophie Broussard
Olivia Dejonge as Caitlin Atwater
Rosmarie DeWitt as Candace Zamperini
Parkey Posey as Freda Black
Maria Dizzia as Lori Campbell
Justice Leak as Tom Maher
Inspired by a true story, The Staircase follows writer and war veteran Michael Peterson after the suspicious death of his wife Kathleen. On December 9, 2001, Michael makes a frantic 911 call reporting Kathleen has fallen down the stairs of their Durham, NC home. But when the district attorney brings murder charges, members of Michael’s blended family must choose whose side they’re on and which version of events to believe. As the case becomes engulfed in a media circus, a French documentary film crew arrives to meticulously chronicle its many twists and turns. Intertwining multiple perspectives and timelines, this gripping limited series explores the elusive nature of truth, while serving as an intimate portrait of a family’s grief.
Warner Bros. Home Entertainment provided me with a free copy of this DVD, which I am reviewing in this blog post.
The opinions I share are my own.
It was back in 2003 when American novelist Michael Iver Peterson was convicted of murdering his second wife, Kathleen.
The homicide case has been featured in various documentaries and podcasts, primarily because the alleged murderer maintained his innocence and the reason of death, needless to say there were plausible evidence that it could have been accident, but it was up to both sides to argue for guilty or innocence and the jurors to come up with their findings with the evidence provided.
To see a family so split and even went to court a decade later Peterson’s defense team fought to overturn his conviction.
Needless to say, because the events became a media circus, and even the alleged murderer allowing a French filmmaker and his crew shoot a documentary. Coincidentally, the editor of the documentary had a relationship with murderer after the filming had concluded.
“The Staircase” is a dramatized series for HBO Max which was directed by Antonio Campos and Leigh Janiak and written and created by Antonio Campos (along with Maggie Cohn, Emily Kaczmarek and Craig Shilowich).
The limited series stars Colin Firth, Toni Collette, Michael Stuhlbarg, Patrick Schwarznegger, Sophie Turner, Odessa Young, Dane DeHaan, Tim Guinee, Vincent Vermignon, Juliette Binoche, Olivia DeJonge and many more.
The film begins with Michael Peterson (portrayed by Colin Firth) awakening and when he goes downstairs he sees his wife right below the staircase and dead.
We see his son Clayton (portrayed by Dane DeHaan) arriving with his girlfriend to the home and seeing medical services and police and his father distraught. Michael tells his son that she may have slipped from the stairs, as she was drunk that night and it seems as if feel at hit her head very hard.
We then start to see the past of the Peterson family, how he was a novelist and a person who ran for politics, while his wife Kathleen was a high-powered executive.
We then start to see that Michael has had some secrets that his wife was not aware of. Is he having an affair?
The police look into the details and Michael is arrested for the murder of his wife, meanwhile the family believe that their father is innocent and he posted bail and he is released.
As the family start to find out about Kathleen’s death, and he insists that it was an accident, there are others that don’t believe it was.
The circumstances around Kathleen’s death is suspicious, but it shows that her blood alcohol content was 0.07, her alcohol in her urine was 0.11 and that she had taken valium. She had a fracture in her thyroid, lacerations on the top and back of her head consistent with being hit by a blunt object and died from blood loss two hours after sustaining her injuries.
But when it was shown that Michael was bisexual and secretly lived a gay lifestyle, those who supported Michael, started to split the family in two, with her Kathleen’s daughter Caitlin (portrayed by Olivia DeJonge) and Kathleen’s sister, Candace Zamperini (portrayed by Rosemarie DeWitt) doubting Michael.
While the family members on Michael’s side believed their parents were in a loving relationshjp, which was supported by family and friends.
The prosecution argued that Michael murdered Kathleen with a fireplace poker, while the defense brought a new theory and tried to say it was an owl as evidence shows that an owl could have attacked her (as there have been attacks in the area).
This is just part of the drama as there are more details, from the 2010 retrial, Peterson taking the Alford plea and Antonio Campos and his crew try to show two sides and similar to a juror, let the audience decide.
My feelings for “The Staircase: Limited Series”, I knew that Colin Firth did an amazing job. As an actor, he rarely stumbles and for the most part, he played the role convincingly well. As did Toni Collette.
But I think if anything, similar to the media circus surrounding the homicide case, the drama and all its theories and may it be genuine emotions, brainwashing or what, instead of coming up with an answer, I just felt watching this drama limited series was just too farfetched and just wrong and I felt for the family of Kathleen, having to watch a series that really sympathized with Michael Peterson’s actions.
Interesting enough, the director of the French documentary was unhappy with the way certain elements were presented in the series. Even defense lawyer, David Rudolf had a problem with the dramatization. And the family of Michael Peterson felt the series retraumatized the family.
Two families were destroyed that fateful evening, and this drama doesn’t really ease anything, if anything it is modern day dramatization for the sake of showing how this case was a media circus and in order to make this a drama series, certain liberties had to be taken (like any film based on reality, things do get dramatized). But the way that the drama presents fact/fiction, it almost comes out too real when there are parts that are not true.
To be fair, HBO Max has said “The Staircase is a fictionalized series based on true events. Each episode is accompanied by a disclaimer that states it is ‘a dramatization based on certain facts.’ With respect to the facts that formed the basis for the series, Antonio Campos and [co-showrunner] Maggie Cohn relied on extensive source material, including firsthand accounts of the people involved in the events that took place”.
If anything, I came away watching this drama series more sympathetic to the family members who have tried to move forward and yet reminding everyone of the pain from that very day.
“The Staircase: Limited Series” will appeal to those who love murder case drama series, with wonderful performances but yet a storyline that just leaves you feeling a bit saddened.
Click here to purchase “The Staircase: Limited Series” on Amazon