This
engrossing "based on a true story (except what they made up)" docudrama
series is the lightly fictionalized story of "Anna Delvey", a 23-year old mystery woman and con artist
who arrived in New York a few years ago, claiming to be a wealthy young German
heiress on a mission to start an exclusive club for the super-rich elite.
The
series started out a little slowly, but once it got going, it was riveting. The
story of Anna's two-year wild ride, living a social-media fueled life of wealth and celebrity through New York high-society using other peoples' money,
unfolds primarily through the eyes of a pregnant, disgraced journalist, who
latches on to Anna's sensational story as a vehicle to save her career.
Episode
by episode, we see the journalist steadily peeling back the layers of the story, as she interviews Anna, her friends and various victims. Through flashbacks, we watch as a whole cast of
major players from the top tiers of banking and finance, real estate, high
fashion, and the wealthy art world are pulled into Anna’s orbit, and taken in
by her web of lies.
Through
it all, it was astonishing to watch how Anna was able to take in so many
supposedly smart and sophisticated people for as long as she did. By the end, she seemed to be a young woman
with a narcissistic personality, and an extraordinary talent for manipulating
others reminiscent of another more famous celebrity, the former reality TV star and President.
Obsessed with always
displaying the symbols of ostentatious wealth and expensive taste, she also knew instinctively how to exploit the modern tools of social media and celebrity self-promotion to build her personal brand and social network. She combined all that with a sociopath's gift
for surrounding herself with followers and admirers, who seemed to become
addicted to her and the glamorous image of herself she created. In that context, it all seemed so sadly familiar.
Anna’s
marks appeared to be in awe of her self-confidence, and her refusal to follow
anyone's rules but her own. Each one of
her victims, including even the journalist who investigated her frauds and the
lawyer who devoted himself to her defense, seemed to envy Anna’s strength of
will, while at the same time hoping somehow to benefit from being
close to her, and her apparently vast wealth, connections, celebrity, and success. She understood this power very well, and continued
to use it to get what she wanted from many of them, even after she was arrested, tried and convicted.
It’s
a fascinating and chilling story for our times, with a good script and fine
acting, especially by Julia Garner, who played Anna with disturbing conviction and authenticity.
This
series is a Shonda Rimes production.
Highly recommended.