Warning: This post contains major spoilers for the Disclaimer finale.Disclaimer star Cate Blanchett and director Alfonso Cuarón open up about the series' somber yet moving finale. In the Apple TV+ psychological drama, created by Cuarón and based on Renée Knight’s 2015 novel, Blanchett plays Catherine Ravenscroft, a documentary filmmaker whose life unravels when a novel appears detailing a secret she's long kept hidden. Alongside Blanchett, the show features Kevin Kline, Sacha Baron Cohen, and Lesley Manville. In the final episode, it’s revealed that Catherine’s encounter with Jonathan, a young man who died years ago, was not an affair but a horrific sexual assault.
Jonathan’s parents, Stephen (Kline) and Nancy (Manville), have interpreted his death as a tragic result of Catherine’s alleged seduction. Catherine reveals the truth to her husband Robert (Cohen) in a powerful, climactic confrontation. In an interview with Variety, Blanchett and Cuarón discuss the horrific twist that reshapes the audience's perception of Catherine. Read the full conversation between the director and actor here:
Blanchett:
It’s a reconciliation, in a way, with herself and with that past. The things that we run from or bury or think we can avoid end up becoming our psychological and emotional nemeses. And we didn’t talk a lot about it, but we both had an understanding that we all wear a lot of social masks. In a long marriage, you become something for the other person — what the other person needs you to do is a projection of what the other person believes you to be. And it was really important in that scene that there was no mask.
Sometimes we can’t unpack these things by ourselves. And I think why a lot of people don’t report violent assault is because by being not believed in the reliving of something is to be re-traumatized. I was hoping that at the beginning of that scene, you’d think, “Oh, this is going to be the reconciliation scene..” And, through the course of it, she realizes, “I don’t think I can reconcile with you.” But I didn’t want it to be that she gets vengeance on this man who didn’t believe her. Women aren’t seeking vengeance when they describe what they have felt. They are seeking clarity and understanding, often with themselves.
Having to tell, for the first time, what happened to you to somebody who is actually trying to do you harm was a very nightmarish sort of strange reality. Once the story comes out, to not be able to stop it — it’s a runaway train.
And so for a moment… [To Cuarón:] The way you play with time is really interesting, because the time that the story happens in is relatively short, but we have these long, elastic moments when there’s such an enormous sense of danger. We decided two days prior [to shooting the confrontation] that we’d record all of it, 40 pages or whatever, so that you had the chance to play with what would be onscreen with Kevin and I, and then what would be back in Italy.
Cuarón:
It was very important, because doing it that way allows us to stay in the present tense. It was so important to see her speak, and to minimize the times that we went into the past. It’s a thin line in which you’re going to portray a scene like such that you don’t present it in an exploitative way.
What Cate Blanchett & Alfonso Cuarón’s Reflections On Disclaimer’s Ending Mean
Closure, Healing, And Depicting Traumatic Experiences
Blanchett and Cuarón’s insights into Disclaimer’s ending affirms the series’ focus on the complexities of sexual trauma, grief, and warring perceptions. Catherine's discussion with Robert transcends mere narrative closure; it forces the audience to confront the burden survivors often bear when facing skepticism and hostility. Blanchett’s choice to portray Catherine’s conversation with her husband as a deeply personal attempt at reconciliation, rather than an outburst of revenge, offers a nuanced portrayal of women recovering from abuse. Her comments suggest that Catherine’s journey isn’t about absolution or retribution—it’s about reclaiming control over her story.
Cuarón’s handling of the sequence also denotes the delicate balance needed when detailing sexual trauma on the Apple TV+ show. By limiting flashbacks and shots of the assault, and keeping the scenes grounded in the present, he allows Catherine’s truth to materialize without exploiting her pain. Moreover, this restrained approach highlights the emotional weight of memory and the power dynamics between victim and abuser. The pain is enduring even when the threat is gone. Both Cuarón and Blanchett composed a final scene that resonates by treating Catherine’s story with empathy and realism, focusing on her steps towards acceptance and validation.
Our Take On Blanchett And Cuarón’s Work In Disclaimer
The Drama Series Crafts An Intense Portrait Of Truth And Trauma
Cuarón and the cast of Disclaimer deliver a poignant and thought-provoking narrative about the power of truth and the weight of unresolved trauma. Through Cuarón’s compelling direction and Blanchett’s raw performance, the series’ ending challenges audiences to reconsider their assumptions about survivors and confront the complexities of abuse. The Disclaimer ending doesn’t just reveal Catherine’s truth, but the reality of victims who exist in a world where their truth rarely matters.
Told in seven chapters, “Disclaimer” is based on the novel of the same name by Renée Knight. Acclaimed journalist Catherine Ravenscroft (Blanchett) built her reputation revealing the misdeeds and transgressions of others. When she receives a novel from an unknown author, she is horrified to realize she is now the main character in a story that exposes her darkest secrets. As Catherine races to uncover the writer’s true identity, she is forced to confront her past before it destroys both her own life and her relationships with her husband Robert (Sacha Baron Cohen) and their son Nicholas (Kodi Smit-McPhee).
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