A chilling insight into a world of perverted power and privilege, Ghislaine Maxwell: Filthy Rich examines the extraordinary rise and fall of the elusive woman behind the lurid headlines, and her path from spirited socialite to social outcast.
★★★✰✰
The story of Ghislaine Maxwell is a well-documented one. An Oxford-educated heiress who, grief-stricken by the loss of her father, seeks pastures new in unquestioning New York, ending up associating with a shadowy financier, Jeffrey Epstein. An association that soon becomes tainted by accusations of industrial-scale abuse, plunging both participants into a media firestorm, resulting in the death of one and the trial and conviction of the other.
The subsequent sentencing of Maxwell promised to be, in her own words, “closure” for her many victims, but the torrent of endless speculation surrounding the alleged involvement of unnamed high-profile co-conspirators, a murky plea agreement, accompanied by Maxwell’s continued silence, suggests a case far from resolution.
To understand the enigma of Maxwell, we must delve into her past, and Netflix’s Ghislaine Maxwell: Filthy Rich does this perfectly, with accompanying archive footage and photos of a glamazon cementing herself in the esteem of the upper echelons from an early age. We see a young Ghislaine acting as her father’s chaperone. All sounds innocuous, right? Not so, according to former friend Petronella Wyatt. She compares their relationship to one of a “man and his lover”, adding that he was obsessed with his daughter’s figure. She dotes on him, you can see that, she panders to his every whim, even when his cruelty was aimed at her, whether it was insulting her or, in one instance, when a minor transgression ended in Ghislaine’s hand being crushed by a hammer.
And yet such trauma doesn’t seem to have dampened her spirits, with former friends entranced by her effervescence, as she flittered from one soiree to another, entangling herself ever deeper into high society. She was engaging, with one calling her a “sparkling debutant” and another recording her “hilarious sense of humour” in his diary.
If Ghislaine could be charming to her friends, she could be pitilessly cruel to her victims. The girls, now grown women and once labelled by her as “trash”, speak courageously about their experiences. One of them, Annie Farmer, recollects first meeting Epstein and Maxwell, and soon feeling uncomfortable at a request to give Epstein a foot massage. But that isn’t the end of her ordeal. Maxwell soon morphs from accomplice to perpetrator, fondling Annie’s breasts during another massage. Farmer later reported her experiences to the FBI, but it depressingly fell on deaf ears. Other women reported being hassled by Maxwell into satisfying Epstein’s perversions. Those who repelled their advances found themselves hounded, with one victim spending three years travelling across the country just to avoid them, only to be tricked by Maxwell, who sends her straight back to Epstein, prolonging her victimisation.
The inclusion of victims’ accounts is pivotal, but as soon as attention is paid to them, Ghislaine Maxwell: Filthy Rich unhelpfully shifts to Maxwell’s story and then to other participants, before going back to the victims. By then, the momentum has passed. Little time is made to register the sheer emotional impact of the unpleasant ordeals they were undoubtedly subjected to, representing a regrettably missed opportunity to properly acknowledge their suffering.
Ghislaine Maxwell: Filthy Rich then explores Maxwell’s sudden career change, from a good-time girl to an ocean conservationist. This was during a time when civil litigation against her increased. The documentary team speak with a director who worked with Maxwell, producing content for her new project. He liked her, describing her as “elegant and convincing”, but became gradually disturbed at what he calls her “electric sexual energy”. She talks about her love for wearing a leather catsuit, likening herself to Lara Croft. He then films her walking along a sandy beach in stiletto heels. What should be a nice promo turns into an impromptu photoshoot, with a strutting Ghislaine, the centre of attention (classic Maxwellian chutzpah). The director concludes that this is a case of reinvention, suggesting that her conversion to helping good causes isn’t genuine.
Whilst Ghislaine Maxwell: Filthy Rich, like all the other films on this subject, endeavours to provide a voice for all the victims of this case, it makes the same mistake as its predecessors by wasting time seeking a psychological explanation for Ghislaine’s predatory behaviour. Speculation abounds as to the exact cause of her apparent malaise. Was it narcissism? Was it psychopathy? Was it prolonged exposure to her father’s megalomania? Perhaps, she was just simply evil.
Again, like the other films, too much time is focused on her relationship with her father and the theory that this relationship led her to crave a daddy substitute—one she supposedly found in Epstein, leaving herself at risk of exploitation and somehow justifying her progression into crime, almost turning her into a sympathetic figure or victim, when the attention should be unequivocally focused on the actual victims of this case.
Ghislaine Maxwell: Filthy Rich should be commended for its efforts in attempting to dismantle the many myths that still linger in this case, but viewers shouldn’t expect any big revelations. We’re still none the wiser as to the exact circumstances of her initial meeting with Epstein, or the exact nature of their relationship. We’re still none the wiser as to the identities of the cabal of “men” who were allegedly the beneficiaries of Epstein’s perversions, or the whereabouts of supposedly incriminating kompromat that might unequivocally damn them as co-conspirators.
With Epstein dead, the answers now lie with Ghislaine Maxwell. Will she one day divulge her appalling secrets? That remains to be seen.
The Verdict
Ghislaine Maxwell: Filthy Rich centres on victim advocacy, but for the wrong victim. Maxwell’s story takes priority, leaving her victims yet again languishing in her shadow.
Ghislaine Maxwell: Filthy Rich is available now on Netflix.
Words by Andrew Fogarty
Support The Indiependent
We’re trying to raise £200 a month to help cover our operational costs. This includes our ‘Writer of the Month’ awards, where we recognise the amazing work produced by our contributor team. If you’ve enjoyed reading our site, we’d really appreciate it if you could donate to The Indiependent. Whether you can give £1 or £10, you’d be making a huge difference to our small team.