Martha Stewart: una storia americana

Martha Stewart, the person and brand, elicits a wide range of reactions. This excellent documentary should only elicit a tasteful standing ovation. It's thoughtful, funny, seemingly honest, and moves along briskly. At 83 years young, it only seems fair that Martha has a fair amount of influence on her life's story. And it is an impressive one. She was and still remains a staggering figure of confidence, vision, taste, strength, and humor. Hearing her answers to tough questions adds heft to this documentary, even if some responses are self serving or hypocritical. The visual style here is also clever and tells the story of Martha's rise, fall, and 2nd act in a compelling manner. Overall, Martha is a very good thing!

To be fair, despite Martha Stewart's own public criticism of this documentary, this is the most positive, humanizing depiction of her on film.

I'm not a fan but, as a woman, I admire her determination and gumption. At the same time, I can also confirm her behind-the-scenes bad behaviour towards staff, from friends who worked with/for her. But tell me a person in power who doesn't act like a d*ck, because I haven't met one yet.

Still, Martha comes away from this rather likeable and oddly relatable as a human being. And that's a good thing.

Mariana Pasternak, her so-called friend, betraying her to the FBI was so crap.

Here's hoping Martha kicked her to the curb.

Somehow I don't find it surprising that Martha Stewart complained publicly to no less than the New York Times about the final cut of the 2024 documentary about her life even though she fully cooperated with longtime documentarian R. J. Cutler on the production. After all, she is a legendary perfectionist who changed the fabric of American lifestyle culture and became the country's first self-made female billionaire. She was appalled that a big chunk of the film was devoted to her conviction and 150-day imprisonment two decades ago (including a day in solitary confinement for what seemed to be a minor infraction), yet this section (replete with illustrations) was the most compelling part of her story. Cutler does a masterful job covering her life, triggering Stewart to discuss aspects of her childhood, marriage, relationships, and business dealings that reveal the price she has paid for her perfectionism. Her life since prison has been an intriguing example of reinvention with unexpected notoriety that has proven fortuitous to her enduring brand. She is truly brilliant but with that detached sense of entitlement that still limits how much of her story she is willing to share even now. This documentary provides clear evidence what a fascinating life Stewart has led due in no small part to her unflinching tenacity and almost telepathic sense of what her audience wants.

I'm close to Martha's age and have watched her for years. Her TV shows and magazines don't reveal how picky she is and how gripey she comes across. This documentary does. I see why her husband left and it must be hard for her to keep her staffs. She doles out constant criticism. Nobody else can do anything right. Everything has to be her way or else. OMG That would get old.

I remember when she was found guilty and sent to prison. Media made such a big deal over her expensive purse but no mention of the attorneys wearing expensive suits etc. She did wrong but many have done much worse and never seen the inside of a prison.

This was hard for me to watch. It was void of goodness and much more about ego. Ego ego ego. It's sad because living as a perfectionist and void of true joy is what I felt in watching it. I can admire intelligence in the business world but Martha seems to live without almost any true emotional intelligence. I don't know. I hate to say that but it's my take. It was a pretty sad story and I can only imagine how people were treated along the way.

As far as the documentary. It was pretty cheesy to have friends and people who knew her speaking but not able to see them. It just added to the coldness.