Susan Granger’s review of “Inventing Anna” (Netflix)
You may recognize Emmy-winner Julia Garner’s face and distinctively nasal voice from “Ozark,” but in the nine episodes of “Inventing Anna” she plays enigmatic grifter Anna Sorokin – a.k.a. Ann Delvey.
For years, brazen Anna passed herself off as the daughter of a German tycoon, gliding through Manhattan’s opulent hotels, restaurants and night clubs, clad in expensive couture. Posing as an heiress, she cleverly befriended socialites, high-fashion designers and moneyed tech moguls.
Told in flashbacks, manipulative, twentysomething Anna’s mysterious story is being investigated by Vivian Kent (Anna Chlumsky), a whiny, very pregnant writer, desperately trying to restore her tarnished journalistic reputation.
Encouraged by older colleagues (Anna Devere Smith, Terry Kinney, Jeff Perry) banished to ‘Scriberia,’ Vivian interviews Anna who’s being held – without bail – on Riker’s Island, pending trial.
To research Anna’s background, Vivian stalks former friends, colleagues and gullible victims – like photo editor (Katie Lowes), banker (Alan Reed), fitness trainer (Laverne Cox) and boutique hotel concierge (Alexis Floyd) – plus Anna’s lawyer (Arian Moayed) and boyfriend (Saamer Usmani).
Wrestling with a bizarre Slavic/Germanic accent, Julia Garner infuses Anna with sneering, haughty impatience and glacial indifference. Confident and calculating, Anna converts every conversation into a scamming transaction. In contrast, Anna Chlumsky’s Vivian is awkwardly annoying.
Produced by prolific Shonda Rhimes (“Grey’s Anatomy”), the formulaic, fictionalized series utilizes social media as both a metaphor and narrative device, exploring how influential people use Instagram to hide in plain sight…as the slow-building con stretches on and on and on, repeating the disclaimer: “The whole story is completely true – except for all the parts that are totally made up.
FYI: Jessica Pressler’s “How an Aspiring ‘It’ Girl Tricked New York’s Party People – and its Banks” was published in New York magazine in May, 2018. Currently Anna remains in ICE’s custody, fighting deportation to Germany. Reportedly, Netflix paid Anna $320,000; in turn, she paid $198,000 in restitution, $24,000 in state taxes and $75,000 in attorney’s fees.
On the Granger Gauge of 1 to 10, “Inventing Anna” is a slyly stealthy, swindling 6, streaming on Netflix.
