TV Review: THE ASSASSINATION OF GIANNI VERSACE: AMERICAN CRIME STORY + CIVILISATIONS

This article was originally published in The Courier on 3rd March 2018.

https://www.thecourier.co.uk/category/lifestyle/entertainment/tv-film/

THE ASSASSINATION OF GIANNI VERSACE: AMERICAN CRIME STORY: Wednesday, BBC Two

CIVILISATIONS: Thursday, BBC Two

We’re all aware that fashion designer Gianni Versace was murdered on his doorstep. These things tend to lodge in your mind. I daresay, however, that most of us know nothing about Versace’s murder beyond that one brutal fact.

That’s chiefly why THE ASSASSINATION OF GIANNI VERSACE: AMERICAN CRIME STORY is so effective: this addictive nine-part drama is utterly unpredictable and jaw-dropping.

The first season of American Crime Story was based on the O.J. Simpson trial, the details of which are, broadly speaking, well known. That’s presumably why it was presented as an absurd tragicomedy, rather than a revelatory factual drama.

Season two opts for a more sombre tone and a greater sense of depth. It veers off in various directions while still keeping hold of the main narrative. It’s a far more impressive, nuanced piece of work.

Based on the book Vulgar Favours: Andrew Cunanan, Gianni Versace, and the Largest Failed Manhunt in U.S. History by Maureen Orth, it begins with Versace’s 1997 murder before flashing back to various points during the preceding seven years. This allows the writers to flesh out the characters while teasing and building the central mystery: who was Andrew Cunanan and why did he kill Versace?

It turns out that Cunanan was a young man who once had a brief affair with Versace. He was also a pathological fantasist, an entitled nuisance and a serial killer. Glee star Darren Criss delivers a mesmerising performance as Cunanan; his volatile presence is truly unnerving.

Despite having a gay homicidal maniac at its centre, The Assassination Of Gianni Versace doesn’t feel exploitative or dubious. It sensitively explores the scourge of homophobia in America’s recent past, and every gay character apart from Cunanan is portrayed in a sympathetic light. Cunanan’s sexuality and psychopathy are never depicted as two sides of the same coin; a self-perceived failure, he was driven by intense jealousy of rich, talented artists.

It’s a stellar example of the way episodic television can explore a complex story in novelistic detail and from several angles. This bizarre saga, with all its shocking twists and grisly turns, unfolds like a violent fever dream. Yet it actually happened. 

The Versace family disagree, they’ve dismissed it as a work of fiction, but I suspect that’s because they resent the very existence of an unauthorised forage behind their fiercely protected brand image.

However, I do sympathise with their opposition to an extent. While the series depicts the Versaces (Donatella is winningly portrayed by the great Penelope Cruz) and his lover (a sensitive turn from pop star Ricky Martin) sympathetically, how must they feel being confronted with graphic images of their beloved Gianni (lookalike Edgar Ramirez) with gaping bullet wounds through his cheeks? Was it really necessary to linger on that?

I also feel for all the families of Cunanan’s victims, who’d be advised to stay away. 

Nevertheless, a few lapses in taste aside, this is a thoughtful and intelligent dramatisation of a thoroughly fascinating case.

Commissioned at the behest of the BBC’s Director General Tony Hall, CIVILISATIONS is a belated sequel to Kenneth Clark’s landmark 1969 series Civilisation.

A nine-part essay on the history of African, Asian, American and European art, it’s clearly an attempt to grandly reaffirm the BBC’s core Reithian values: to inform, educate and entertain.

Thankfully, this beautifully directed, globe-trotting piece succeeds without coming across as self-important. Hosted in shifts by Mary Beard, David Olusoga and Simon Schama, it began with the sage yet cuddly Schama exploring the origins of human creativity. Despite its sweeping ambitions, Schama’s essay was typically focused and accessible. It was also rather moving.

The human impulse to create works of art stretches back through the millennia. That’s a humbling and comforting thought.

As Schama said in his impassioned introduction after showing horrific footage of ISIS destroying ancient works of art: “We can spend a lot of time debating what civilisation is or isn’t, but when its opposite shows up in all its brutality and cruelty and intolerance and lust for destruction, we know what civilisation is.”