Marie Adler shares her views on Unbelievable, the Netflix drama which depicts her traumatic rape case
A journalist that helped tell Adler's story has shared her feelings on the Netflix drama.
Since being released on Netflix last week, viewers have been extremely interested in the real-life story depicted in Unbelievable.
For those unfamiliar with the story, Unbelievable tells the true story of Marie Adler (portrayed by Kaitlyn Dever), a young woman who was bound and raped by a masked man in her home over a decade ago.
Adler reported the incident to the police, but because of a lack of strong evidence and her complicated background, neither the police nor some of her close friends believed her story.
Ultimately, a combination of coercion, intense mental pressure and delayed trauma caused Marie to retract the statement that she made to the police.
In doing so, Adler found herself in a downward spiral as she lost her job, some of her friends and the trust of her various foster families.
However, unbeknownst to Marie, hundreds of miles away, detectives Grace Rasmussen and Karen Duvall (played by Toni Collette and Merritt Wever in the show) met while investigating an eerily similar pair of intruder rapes and partnered together to catch a potential serial rapist.
Ultimately, the work by those detectives on that case led to them investigating Marie's attack.
The drama has gained impressive reviews as, unlike some shows and documentaries, it demonstrates a sensitivity to its victims.
Netflix's programme draws from reporting by T. Christian Miller and Ken Armstrong for ProPublica and The Marshall Project, later published as a non-fiction book, A False Report.
Since the show was released, Armstrong, has shared his views on the show and, having been in touch with the real-life Marie, also shared her views on events portrayed in Unbelievable on Twitter this week.
Armstrong says: "Two weeks ago I got a call, from Marie. She told me she had just watched the series. Watching it was hard, she said. 'I did cry quite a bit,' she said. But she had decided she wanted to and was glad that she did. She called the show 'excellent'.
"I asked Marie if I could share her thoughts on Twitter. She said that would be fine. She brought up one scene in particular — in the first episode, in which she’s confronted by police and recants. Marie has told me before that it can be a struggle for her to put her feelings and thoughts into words. In that scene, she said, Kaitlyn Dever (the actress who plays Marie in the show) captured her struggle. 'It was, like, perfect,' she said."
Armstrong added: "The series shows how two of Marie’s former foster moms doubted her account. Both later apologised to her. Marie forgave both. She kept ties with both. After finishing the series, Marie called both, to reassure them: 'The show doesn’t demonise you.' She encouraged both to watch.
"Watching the last episode, watching the re-creation of the Colorado detectives closing in, provided Marie something she didn’t expect. 'Seeing him get put away, that was closure for me,' she said."
You can read the whole thread below and it's extremely informative for two reasons.
Firstly, it provides a thorough and important background of the real-life case.
Secondly, it's an indication of how the filmmakers handled Marie's story with sensitivity and care.
2/ In the show’s 1st episode, Marie, after reporting her rape, goes to the hospital for an exam.
In the scene, we learn how many swabs are taken. Where they're taken from. And what Marie is told after—that she might start thinking of killing herself.
Each detail is accurate.— Ken Armstrong (@bykenarmstrong) September 16, 2019
4/ This 8-part series is the 4th way this story has been told. W/ @txtianmillerI was part of the first 3:
A @ProPublica @MarshallProj story: https://t.co/rXp7WAlyIU
A @ThisAmerLife episode w/ @RobynSemien: https://t.co/vgT5QsrRrh
A @penguinrandom book: https://t.co/Ogkj9qdhp4— Ken Armstrong (@bykenarmstrong) September 16, 2019
6/ That’s why I say that to me, Marie is not a character.
Jeff Mason, the detective who charged Marie with lying, is not a character. He is a cop who sat with me and owned his mistakes, horrific as they were.— Ken Armstrong (@bykenarmstrong) September 16, 2019
8/ One of Justified's young stars was @KaitlynDever. She was cast as Marie. Dever told a NYC screening audience that she steeped herself in the story while respecting Marie & her privacy.
She didn't fret over mannerisms or accent. She concentrated on emotion. On state of mind.— Ken Armstrong (@bykenarmstrong) September 16, 2019
10/ @MrEricLange was cast as the lead detective in Marie's case. He could have made his character a cartoon villain. But he didn't.
Because the man he played wasn't.— Ken Armstrong (@bykenarmstrong) September 16, 2019
12/ When I did see the series, the lessons were all there:
—The misconceptions about trauma
—The confrontational tactics misused by the police in Washington
—The triumph of police teamwork in Colorado— Ken Armstrong (@bykenarmstrong) September 16, 2019
14/ @judyberman wrote in @TIME:
“Like much of 2019’s best TV…Unbelievable isn’t light viewing. But in defending reality against received wisdom & eschewing suspense in favor of insight, it makes a plea for revising simplistic rape narratives that should be impossible to ignore.”— Ken Armstrong (@bykenarmstrong) September 16, 2019
16/ @chaneyj uses similar language in @vulture, saying Unbelievable “eschews flashiness at every turn.” @vulture calls the show “radical” & “exceptional” https://t.co/tSvwamKhFP, other critics, “quietly revolutionary”https://t.co/Hj1U6bYJr0 & “insurgent” https://t.co/UOyT9r4p1x
— Ken Armstrong (@bykenarmstrong) September 16, 2019
18/ I asked Marie if I could share her thoughts on Twitter. She said that would be fine. She brought up one scene in particular—in the first episode, in which she’s confronted by police and recants.
— Ken Armstrong (@bykenarmstrong) September 16, 2019
20/ The series shows how two of Marie’s former foster moms doubted her account. Both later apologized to her. Marie forgave both. She kept ties with both. After finishing the series, Marie called both, to reassure them: The show doesn’t demonize you. She encouraged both to watch.
— Ken Armstrong (@bykenarmstrong) September 16, 2019
22/ And watching the last episode, watching the re-creation of the Colorado detectives closing in, provided Marie something she didn’t expect. “Seeing him get put away, that was closure for me,” she said.
— Ken Armstrong (@bykenarmstrong) September 16, 2019
24/24 And sign up for @ProPublica’s newsletter for alerts on whatever big investigation comes next: https://t.co/gRkzoQvLQV
— Ken Armstrong (@bykenarmstrong) September 16, 2019
