Language: English
Hollywood seems to be going through a wave of films/limited series where they’re trying to humanise America's Alt-right movement, while also delivering strong commentary on the rigid gender roles of ‘70s America. So, while Cate Blanchett played the part of Phyliss Schlafly in Mrs America (2020) – an ambitious woman trying to make a name for herself in Washington DC by lobbying against the Equal Rights Act (championed by the feminist movement), in Gaslit we see Julia Roberts playing Martha Mitchell, wife of John Mitchell (Chairman of Richard Nixon’s 1968 and 1972 presidential campaigns) who likes to go on TV shows and be unabashed about her opinions with scant regard for her husband’s delicate proximity to the President of America.
There are tics to such parts that have now become predictable, especially given how most of them speak with a Southern twang. However, these roles also dig deep into their conditioning and their growing up years, giving us a fuller (and often tragic) picture of these personalities that have otherwise been curated with a healthy degree of presumption based on their public image.
Created by Robbie Pickering and directed by Matt Ross, the seven-part series lends faces to the Watergate scandal. Covered in at least a dozen films ranging from All The President’s Men (1976) to Frost/Nixon (2008) – the scandal has been depicted from multiple vantage points. As odd as it may sound, no film has delved into a portrait of the perpetrators (beyond Nixon) behind the Watergate scandal. And that’s where Gaslit captures the conversation in an effective way.
The year is 1972, Nixon is getting ready for re-election. Even though he’s winning by a good margin, the situation around the country is tense. The anti-war protests have persisted for a few years by now. The Vietnam war is one of the dozen issues that has split the country from the middle. Partly due to an administration’s arrogance (and also ignorance to a certain extent), the Nixon regime puts together a plan called Operation Gemstone to spy on Democrats by installing bugs and transmitters into their telephones inside the Watergate building, which happens to be the headquarters of the Democratic National Committee (DNC).
A junior counsel inside the White House, John Dean (Dan Stevens) is told about his moment to shine in the eyes of the President, if he can orchestrate an illegal operation of snooping on his fellow politicians. He introduces a ruthless (and potentially mentally unstable) FBI operative, Gordon Liddy (Shea Wingham), to John Mitchell (Sean Penn under heavy prosthetic make-up).
A CIA operative and four Cuban nationals are recruited for the break-in. The first two episodes paint the operation as a comedy of errors, making the men look like amateur buffoons. Slowly but surely, the police and the media catch on to the stink around what was being attempted at the Watergate, and on whose orders. Meanwhile, the series closely monitors the disintegration of John and Martha Mitchell’s stormy marriage, and how she incidentally becomes a prized testimony to bring down the Nixon administration – despite her reputation as a ‘loudmouth’.
Gaslit’s ensemble cast is the stuff of dreams, delivering in a manner that one only could have hoped for, while reading the opening credits.
Despite all that heavy make-up, Penn is a hoot as the foul-mouthed, inappropriate, obese Republican, who chews cigars and downs whiskeys with the same efficiency as he practises his twisted politics. Dan Stevens as the rookie counsel, who becomes the inadvertent ‘mastermind’ of the Watergate scandal, is a terrific mix of good intentions and pliable ethics. Betty Gilpin as Stevens’ partner, Mo, is also an excellent addition to the cast.
The acting honours, though, are shared by Shea Wingham’s Gordon Liddy – Nixon’s mercenary-in-chief who sees himself as a soldier for the greater good, and Julia Roberts as the ‘inconveniently’ opinionated woman, who everyone keeps dismissing as an attention-seeker, even during a senate hearing.
Wingham’s performance is fierce through and through, one that burns the screen each time he appears. Roberts is tasked with a much more nuanced, complex character, one that happens to be a fiercely loyal partner, a caring mother, a reckless public personality, an unreliable friend, and a thoroughly free woman (much to the annoyance of a few people) – who pops pills and drinks till it might not be considered ‘respectable’.
Starting off as a partial comedy, Gaslit transforms into a slow-burn political thriller. Covering multiple narrative arcs, the show becomes a stunning meditation on the institution of marriage. There’s an exquisite moment in E05, where Penn’s character tells Stevens’ character what to expect in his newly married life. The show’s title is derived from the Martha Mitchell Syndrome - where a person is convinced by a psychiatrist/psychologist of being deluded or paranoid, even though they’re speaking the truth. In a post-truth era, where facts no longer exist, and there are only opinions floating in the ether, there couldn’t be a more timely story than this.
Gaslit is streaming on Lionsgate Play
Tatsam Mukherjee has been working as a film journalist since 2016. He is based out of Delhi NCR.
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