‘Apple Cider Vinegar’ review: Netflix’s Belle Gibson series is compulsively watchable, but at what cost?

On the top of each Apple Cider Vinegar Episode, the character breaks down the fourth wall and tells him, “This is a true story based on a lie.”

The true story in question? Australian influencer Bell Gibson rises and declines (BooksmartA brain cancer diagnosis was used to build a wellness empire. lie? She had cancer in the first place.

Netflix’s Apple Cider Vinegar Find out how Bell’s lies turned out and put it in the context of the rise of Instagram and influencer stardom. The Limited series also dramatically portrays the lives of major people on her trajectory, from rival wellness influencers to cancer patients who stick to all the words of Bell. These story threads should help to materialize the full impact of Bell’s actions, but in reality, Apple Cider Vinegar To a strange paradox. The show is a flashy test of what is called wellness influencer, but it’s also a very upsetting cancer story, with neither side having the depth to which it deserves.

Apple Cider Vinegar It brings the story of con artist Bell Gibson to life.

Apple Cider Vinegar Following her lies’ exposure, she begins with a 2015 meeting with a crisis management PR company, taking a non-linear approach to Bell’s story. Then, Shaw went back in time to see how she first lied about brain cancer, how she claimed to have alleviated cancer through a healthy diet and a natural lifestyle, and how she had done these things. Shows how manufacturing has been spiralized into popular apps. The whole pantry. It has little effect on the show’s cluttered chronology, but it looks like a tool to give Apple Cider Vinegar The glossy look of fame television than the device of actual meaningful story.

Belle’s isn’t the only story at the center Apple Cider Vinegar. The show also introduces Mira Blake (Alycia debnam-carey, It’s something in it), fictional version “Wellness Warrior” Jessica Einskoff. However, unlike Bell, Mira actually suffers from cancer. At age 22, she was diagnosed with undifferentiated pleomorphic sarcoma of the arm. However, instead of amputating her arm, as recommended by the doctor’s team, she chose to pursue a “natural” treatment route, including juicing and coffee enemies. Her blog on the subject has earned her quite a bit below, including her obsessive Bell and what she considers Mira as a blueprint for whom she wants to be.

We conclude the main cast Apple Cider Vinegar Breast cancer patient Lucy (Tilda Cobham Harvey) wants to follow in Bell’s footsteps and stop treatment. Each represents a different kind of victim. Lucy’s belief in Bell’s lies is physically harmful. On the other hand, Chanel finds she’s caught up in a predatory financial scam.

It is based on the nature of fraud Apple Cider VinegarIt’s difficult to find a comparison with another Netflix True Crime Show. Anna’s invention. Like Anna Delvey, Bell has a considerable distribution of heart-warming, terrifying girl moments, and viewers will keep pushing plays in further episodes. However, cancer is also involved in her fraud. Apple Cider VinegarA bubble approach to elements of Bell’s story.

Apple Cider VinegarThe flashy Instagram aesthetic is at war with cancer-centric stories.

Kaitlyn Dever from Apple Cider Vinegar.
Credit: Provided by Netflix

Apple Cider Vinegar It is ruptured in a stylized sequence. In the jam-packed opening, Britney Spears’ “toxic” responsibility comes from Dever, Dee Nam Frogley, Cobham Heaby and Dee choreographed dances in golden sparkly dresses. Scenes, comments and posts, including social media, will be displayed on screen throughout the show. With all these elements and a non-stop parade of famous needle drops and gorgeous stars. Apple Cider Vinegar To highlight how big these platforms play in the rise of Bell, we coopt the aesthetics of ambitious social media posts. But when using this visual language, is it really commenting on how there are really shallow and artificial influencer posts? Or will they be prey to the exact same artificiality?

Both are true. Apple Cider VinegarThe flashiness of the film is undoubtedly an effort to criticize Mira and Bell’s approach to social media. Some scenes show that they are painstakingly drafting their posts, hoping to walk the perfect line between relevance and unattainable boundaries. After all, it takes a lot of effort to make it look easy.

still Apple Cider Vinegar You barely jump into the way social media actually perpetuates harmful health messages. We don’t understand what led Mira or Bell So They focused on the “natural” first place and vague research beyond a few nods, so they find their strict adherence to their lifestyles blank and somewhat unmotivated. Meanwhile, Lucy’s character becomes a substitute Apple Cider Vinegar It’s harmful to explain what Bell and Mira are doing, but she is often asserted, so the message just falls.

Bell’s manipulation is something most viewers are familiar with, and everything that produces the show’s most nagging sequences is at her expense. However, the most difficult thing to watch is Mira’s storyline. Refusing to treat her cancer is part of the most upsetting television I’ve seen in a while, along with forcing her family to participate in her “all-natural” lifestyle. . It is not in that sense, but adjacent to the fear of the body. Apple Cider Vinegar He shows Gore, in the sense that Mira is violating her body in order to try to maintain impossible health standards. Seeing everyone buys it on a show is nothing but nausea.

But how much of this reaction comes from? Apple Cider Vinegar Are you actually showing us, whereas the audience brings their own emotional experiences with cancer to the show? Despite the strong performance by Dever and Debnam-Carey, I know my main response Apple Cider Vinegar By projecting my own family and friends on the cancer patients in the series, I had little connection to Bell and Mira as characters.

Apple Cider Vinegar They attempt to tackle true crime with a variety of consequences.

Alycia Debnam-Carey and Aisha Dee from Apple Cider Vinegar.
Credit: Provided by Netflix

In addition to juggling complex topics about social media, wellness glyfters, and cancer emotional weight; Apple Cider Vinegar It also gets meta for its unique status as a true crime show.

Each episode not only starts with the aforementioned warning, but often comes with another reminder where Bel Gibson tells and writes about things she hasn’t been paid for the recreation of her story.

These moments will be exhibited Apple Cider VinegarThe effort to distance itself from its true crime story, claims that have praised other Netflix series Monster: The Story of Jeffrey Dermer. But by attracting attention Apple Cider VinegarIn reality, this series feeds the fire of unrespectful mistrust that you want to continue watching true crime in the first place.

Apple Cider Vinegar At one point, the audience is also chiding because of that instinct. At one point, you ask if you care if the name or character is fictional. (At another point, we say we can Google what happened next, as if the series were not responsible for our continued interest in the subject that we informed. Yes, your audience may want to keep watching, but who made the series in the first place? Who has given Bell Gibson more infamous and captivated her story with Instagram filters Did you do it?

Apple Cider VinegarReflections on the genre of true crime are still somewhat fascinating, but ultimately, like many of the shows, lack the depth and focus that will reach the root of the problem.

Apple Cider Vinegar Currently streaming on Netflix.

Updated: February 6, 2025, 7:41am EST This article has been updated to reflect current streaming options.