Critics have dismissed Disclaimer, but it shares uncomfortable truths about misogyny

Alfonso Cuaron’s directorial debut Disclaimer (2024), streaming on Apple TV+, has attracted significant attention due to its lavish production and a cast that includes Cate Blanchett, Kevin Kline, Lesley Manville and Sacha Baron Cohen.

Yet despite these credentials the series has faced harsh criticism. The New Yorker’s Inkoo Kang called it a “work of startling vacuity,” while The Guardian’s Lucy Mangan described it as “slow, turgid, self-important.”

However, these critiques overlook Disclaimer’s incisive exploration of gender politics, sexuality and misogyny, mediated through unreliable narrators who test our judgement and perception. Audiences are enfolded within Cuaron’s drama in a manner that prompts questioning and thinking — we are invited to examine and re-examine our own judgments and biases.