Based on the 1996 novel by Margaret Atwood, Alias Grace follows the life of 17-year-old Grace Marks as she escapes her abusive father and becomes a servant in different affluent households. We watch Grace’s life unfold through the stories she tells a psychiatrist, Dr. Simon Jordan. Grace is the picture of purity and innocence, the embodiment of what 19th century women are expected to be. She is also a convicted murderess.
Sarah Gadon, who plays Grace, is the perfect portrayal of innocence with a hint of danger. Her face rarely betrays emotion beyond a slight smile or frown, masking the gruesome memories we see flashing across the screen as she recalls her life. Bodies tumbling down basement staircases flash in vivid contrast to the vibrant green fields and picturesque households that characterize Grace’s stories; a smiling woman in a pastel pink dress waving dreamily at some unknown person before she clutches at her neck and falls to the ground, blood gushing from a wound in her head. Two versions of Grace play out simultaneously as her story unfolds, forming a past that is impossible to reconcile with her current placidity. One moment, her serenity lends her so much detachment we forget her morbid past. The next, her voice is tinged with so much anger that it dispels any delusions of innocence her audience may have held for her.
“Alias Grace” explores the intersection of social class and gender without losing sight of an intriguing plot that seeks to find the truth of Grace’s role in the murders. Through her stories, we see Grace thrown into the world completely alone, falling victim to oppression and violence time and time again. Grace learns to lock her doors to keep men out of her room as she sleeps, to walk away when she becomes the subject of a crude joke, and to smile and stay quiet when rich men speak to her. It is only when she is convicted of murder that she is able to reclaim some of her own narrative through her conversations with Dr. Jordan.
Grace’s story-telling represents a departure from narratives that center the male gaze. For the first time, Grace can choose her own identity. Though her stories seemed nonchalantly pieced together, snippets of Grace’s internal dialogue and memories show us that she is very much in control of her narrative, and instead of succumbing to Dr. Jordan’s insistent questioning, she toys with his curiosity, revealing just enough information to keep him listening without allowing him to determine her innocence. Grace’s apparent detachment from her own life allows viewers to shift their focus from the details of the murder to the conditions that women had to endure on a daily basis, and the consequences that arose from being subject to a lifetime of oppression.
Where was Grace the day of the murders? Did she shoot her master and then strangle his housekeeper, or did she only discover the bodies later and fear for her life? The search for the truth of Grace’s elusive identity extends far beyond Grace herself – it illustrates the way women were perceived in societies that only regarded them as objects for the fulfillment of male desire. Alias Grace is not just the story of a thrilling mystery, it is an exploration of violence and power through the female gaze. Grace may have been the killer in the basement, or she may have been completely innocent. But above all else, she was a woman who reclaimed her identity despite all the violence and misery she endured.
Rating: 4.5/5
Credit for featured image: Jan Thijs/Netflix
