Based on a true story, it is one of those series that enrages and shakes like never before: we called “Unbelievable”, the icy, the upsetting, the visceral.
In 2008, Marie Adler, 18, was raped in her apartment. She reports the crime to the police, but her word is questioned. The authorities then decide that Marie’s report is false and pressure her to retract, costing her the trust of those around her. Doubting herself, she finally retracted, they won.
Accused of having lied, justice then turned against her and she was prosecuted for false declaration. But in front of her, two concerned investigators could change everything…
“Based on true events that no one believed”: this is what the Unbelievable poster promises. Indeed, the police mini-series, created by Susannah Grant in 2019, is inspired by reality. And if Marie Adler is not her real name, she does not fail to be included in the list of heroines from Netflix series who absolutely inspire us.
Netflix
To tell its chilling story, the show is based on the press article “An Unbelievable Story of Rape” by T. Christian Miller and Ken Armstrong, published in 2015 and winner of a Pulitzer, which covers cases of serial rape in Washington and Colorado, as well as the book A False Report (2018), by the same authors.
Giving voice to the victims, unbelievable tackles, just like these 7 series, its subject with committed accuracy and uncompromisingly reveals, in a clinical manner, the traumatic ordeals through which they must go, especially when they are not taken seriously. Neither moralizing nor crude, the series, with its terribly violent modesty, highlights a scandalous legal affair, far from being an isolated case.
Netflix
Added to this poignant subject are visceral performances from its three main actresses, all three nominated for Emmys for the occasion. In the skin of Marie, Kaitlyn Dever (Booksmart, Dopesick) shines with sincerity. A true rising star, she has just been chosen to play the most important character in season 2 of The Last of Us… At her side, we find the excellent Merritt Wever (Nurse Jackie) and Toni Collette ( Heredity). After all, here is the female gauze which takes precedence: the perspective of women, whether they are victims or investigators.
Netflix
On the spectator side, pain and anger are there in this punchy series – rated 4.6 and 4.3 out of 5 by the press and AlloCiné spectators – which rings (too) true and is deeply upsetting. Part of the 7 best series that will make you cry on Netflix, unbelievable is powerful and important, and changes lives in just 8 episodes.
unbelievablecreated by Susannah Grant, with Kaitlyn Dever, Toni Collette, Merritt Wever…
1 season to watch on Netflix.