House of Maxwell

Interesting for the most part and most definitely worth watching but it isn't particularly effective or as 'revelatory' as one might expect.

The recordings are truly awful, with some of the worst voice actors they could've found. Really dilutes the tension of key moments and sounds like a Ladybird cassette tape from the 1980's.

Could they really not have found better voice actors? It detracts...in a big way. It would've also been great to explore more of Maxwell's involvement with the KGB and other intelligence organisations but nevermind. Definitely worth a watch, just don't expect to be thrilled by it.

This three-parter loses its way before the end of part two. House of Maxwell announces a dynastic portrait, but focuses on the fascinating Patriarch, trifles with sons Ian and Kevin, and moves on to Ghislaine, who's revealed to be her father's daughter. This ambitious project seems to have lost confidence, or funding, or come up against an internal censor. There's some excellent original reporting obscured by what can only be called stuffing. Who had the final edit and what was left on the cuttingroom floor?

The good: The origin story of Ghislaine Maxwell, monster, is persuasively demonstrated through her father's career choices, then his death, and her inability to condemn him. I now understand she simply continued on her own personal path of crime, in his shadow.

The bad: Jeffrey Epstein pulls the narrative in part three out of joint. Lots of redundant footage of the story as splashed in the media... The narrative hops backwards and forwards skewing our sense of the chronology... Not enough detail about Maxwell's espionage career, mirrored by silence about Ghislaine's rich'n'powerful connections... The pitiful: Old-man stalker-voice narrator, oddly tawdry, slows the pace, lowers the tone.

A strange whispery slow talking commentary feels out of place for a factual documentary to summarise the facts and history of financial robbery, lies, and sexual abuse.