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Disclaimer is a tale of coincidence, where we first meet Sasha (Liv Hill – Elizabeth Is Missing) and Jonathan (Louis Partridge – Enola Holmes) interrailing in Italy, yet she’s called back to London following a tragedy, leaving Jonathan to continue his travels.
With a story that criss-crosses over as their tales are told, we also meet Catherine Ravenscroft (Cate Blanchett), an award documentary maker… Well, it certainly can’t have been for Borderlands(!)
However, someone has sent her a book dedicated “To my son, Jonathan” and inside, “Disclaimer: Any resemblance to persons living or dead is not a coincidence”.
But what was more of a surprise was that her husband, Robert, is played by a completely unrecognisable Sacha Baron Cohen (Borat Subsequent Moviefilm).
Another actor I didn’t spot at first, was Kevin Kline (The Starling) as teacher Stephen Brigstocke, once a brilliant teacher and feels he should’ve just retired years ago, but he’s still there after almost 50 years, and no longer cares about any of it. Plus, his wife died 9 years ago, and finds an old bag belonging to her with various items from many years ago, including photos of Jonathan and Sasha.
It transpires that the former is their son, even though she kept those pictures from him, and Stephen’s late wife, wrote a book, The Perfect Stranger, which she hid from him while she was alive. However, it appears to bear a strong resemblance to Catherine’s life, but how, and why would someone send it to her?
Slowly, after two episodes that I’ve seen so far, I can see all the threads coming together, and the characters gel a bit more in terms of storytelling. However, about that story… while it is a bit of a nonsense, the cast are great and are worth watching just for that, so I will check out more
A few asides: I found it odd in the first episode, when Cate vomits into a toilet, but even we can see that nothing has come out. Couldn’t they even CGI something in?
Also, on the screener, the dialogue follows across the speakers depending where the cast members are on the screen, as opposed from coming from the centre. Maybe it’s just a glitch that was fixed for the final version.
Finally I did also think what a load of wasted space Cate’s front room had, as there’s a double-height ceiling, but it’s effectively robbing her house of a master bedroom. Why would you do that?
Disclaimer is on Apple TV+ from today, but isn’t yet available to pre-order on Blu-ray or DVD. Initially, two episodes are available, and additional episodes will stream weekly.
Check out the trailer below:
Detailed specs:
Cert: 
Running time: 45 mins per episode
Release date: October 11th 2024 (first 2 episodes, then weekly)
Studio: Apple TV+
Format: 2.00:1
Director: Alfonso Cuarón
Writer/Creator: Alfonso Cuarón
Novel: Renee Knight
Music: Finneas O’Connell
Cast:
Catherine Ravenscroft: Cate Blanchett
Stephen Brigstocke: Kevin Kline
Robert Ravenscroft: Sacha Baron Cohen
Nancy Brigstocke: Lesley Manville
Sasha: Liv Hill
Jonathan Brigstocke: Louis Partridge
Young Catherine: Leila George
Narrator: Indira Varma
Nicholas Ravenscroft: Kodi Smit-McPhee
Young Nicholas Ravenscroft: Bertie Haarer, George Haarer
Jisoo: Hoyeon
Justin: Art Malik
Simon: Michael Spicer
Helen: Gemma Jones
Emily: Whitney Kehinde
Reviewer of movies, videogames and music since 1994. Aortic valve operation survivor from the same year. Running DVDfever.co.uk since 2000. Nobel Peace Prize winner 2021.