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The Staircase (TV Miniseries)

The Staircase

2022

Antonio Campos (Creator), Antonio Campos ...

Colin Firth, Toni Collette, Parker Posey, Sophie Turner ...

6.5

4,117

TV Series. Drama. Mystery 8 Episodes. In 2001, in Durham County, North Caroline, writer Michael Peterson, grieving the death of his wife Kathleen who fell down a staircase, is accused of murdering her.

	Author	Review
United States	Brian Tallerico The Playlist	"A compelling true-crime drama (...) It’s about different versions of justice, public judgment, betrayal, and family allegiance. This story really has it all, and Campos clearly gets all of it"	POS
United States	Ben Travers IndieWire	"Lastrade’s documentary tackled similar ideas, but the HBO Max series takes them further, pushes back on modern genre conventions, and incorporates the impact the original doc had on 'justice' for Michael"	POS
United States	Carly Lane Collider	"Watching this show not only makes the case for revisiting the documentary too; it demands a tandem viewing, with each successfully complementing the other in its existence."	POS
United States	Daniel Fienberg The Hollywood Reporter	"There’s consistent substance beyond the misery porn (...) A good series about a great documentary"	POS
United States	Siddhant Adlakha IGN	"The show retreads much of the ground de Lestrade already covered but what makes HBO’s 'The Staircase' work, right from its opening frames, is Colin Firth’s portrayal of Michael Peterson"	POS
United States	Olivia Ovenden Esquire	"If you liked 'The Staircase', you'll love...'The Staircase' (...) Though it keeps a watchful eye on the facts of the case, it's one true tale that is all the better for not letting the truth get in the way of a good story."	POS
United States	Jesse Hassenger The Wrap	"It’s full of tricky, complicated ambiguities that are often riveting and sometimes just baffling (...) The best moments evoke the queasy fascination of a good true-crime doc"	NEU
United States	Chris Evangelista SlashFilm	"'The Staircase' is best seen as an expansion of the docuseries (...) it's to the show's credit that it strives to remind us that Kathleen Peterson was a real person who died tragically"	POS
United States	Peter Travers ABC News	"'The Staircase' will keep you guessing and leave you wanting more (...) A potent and provocative powerhouse and TV at its addictive best"	POS
United States	Katie Rife Polygon	"'The Staircase' does shore up the case for its own existence as it goes along (...) Even the series' less tasteful moments can be seen as bold direction, a refusal to look away from the distressing reality of death"	POS
United States	Nick Allen rogerebert.com	"'The Staircase' is both a masterful moment for an assured filmmaker, and it's the jolt that the true crime storytelling industry needs"	POS
United States	Alison Foreman AV Club	"A testament to Campos' strong direction that the first five episodes deliver a consistently fresh presentation of the case's main players (...) [It] has begun a treacherous ascent toward saying something truly meaningful"	POS
United States	Richard Lawson Vanity Fair	"'The Staircase' steadily builds into something vital, a calmly observational dissection of known and unknown things (...) From what I've seen —with three more episodes to go— Campos has made the true-crime series to end them all"	POS
United States	Kelly Lawler USA Today	"It could've gone horribly wrong, but Campos makes an effort to bring something more to the story than his predecessors did (...) Its smartest aspect is that he makes the original doc a part of its plot (…) Rating: ★★★ (out of 4)"	POS
United States	Brian Lowry CNN	"With 'The Staircase', there's method to the madness, as it seeks to capture the story with all its intricacies, and the sometimes elusive pursuit of putting the truth in true crime"	POS
United States	Jen Chaney Vulture	"The perspectives and narrative pathways explored in this limited series prove that the story of Michael and Kathleen Peterson remains compelling no matter how many times you've seen or heard it"	POS
United States	Richard Roeper Chicago Sun-Times	"This is a well-written drama with clearly defined characters (...) Firth turns in some of the finest work of his brilliant career (...) 'The Staircase' keeps us in its grips throughout (…) Rating: ★★★ (out of 5)"	POS
United Kingdom	Lucy Mangan The Guardian	"It is as much a portrait of how we construct a truth and the impossibility of ever uncovering a single, shining, objective one (...) Firth and Collette are, as you might expect, brilliant (…) Rating: ★★★★ (out of 5)"	POS
United States	Daniel D'Addario Variety	"'The Staircase' is a fascinating look at guilt, innocence and image (...) [It takes] the audience beyond the first level and reaching for a second, elevated story"	POS

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