Apple Cider Vinegar is the kind of show where you desperately want the main character to fail while also sympathizing with them. A deadly, but effective, combo. Kaitlyn Dever plays Belle Gibson, a real-life Australian scammer who creates a wellness empire based on a lie. And it’s not just a simple lie like, “I’m a natural blonde” when you’re actually a brunette and dye your hair every other week. Belle Gibson lied about having brain cancer. And every lie she told kept building up tension for the viewer because you knew it was going to crumble. And it did.
Dever’s portrayal of the real-life pseudoscience advocate was hard to watch. And that was because of the phenomenal job Dever did in transforming her being into Belle. Like I said earlier, I wanted Belle to fail. But as Apple Cider Vinegar unfolded her story, and Dever was bringing it to life, I felt for this character. I felt her loneliness and desperation to be liked. I also saw someone addicted to the thrill of being acknowledged while not caring that what she was doing was wrong. It started when she was younger with faking a heart attack and it followed her into adulthood with millions of people from around the world sympathizing with her alleged brain cancer diagnosis.
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The strength of Dever’s portrayal wouldn’t be possible without the writing and directing of Apple Cider Vinegar. Most of the time when I’m watching TV I’m multitasking. But for Apple Cider Vinegar, I put my phone down. I was looking at every little tick on Belle’s face to try and figure out if what she was saying was a lie despite her convincing words. I was also looking at how the camera was focused on her, sometimes in ways to make her look empowering and then other times to wash her out and put her on the spot. Even the clothes played a role in what you saw when it came to Belle. They were all part of the lie and the character that she built because she didn’t care to find out who she actually was outside of lying for attention.
As a fan of The 100, Alycia Debnam-Carey was a welcome standout in Apple Cider Vinegar. Like Belle, I did not like her character of Milla. I’ve never had cancer so I can only speak on her decision not to get treatment from an outsider perspective. But I felt frustrated with her character and how she perpetuated pseudoscience as a cure for the cancer she had. Watching her have so much conviction in what she thought was right, to only watch it crash and burn, was devastating. And unlike how I felt when it came to Belle, there was no satisfaction or “she had it coming” when it came to Milla. There was pain and the sting of loss because of what could’ve been if she got treatment.
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Apple Cider Vinegar also had plenty of moments where we saw others swindling cancer patients, making it clear this isn’t just a Belle or Milla problem. Cancer is a devastating disease that takes many lives. Unfortunately, some will still choose to make a quick dollar even when you’re on your deathbed. That’s the difference for me. Believe in alternative medicine. Go ahead. But in the same vein, when it doesn’t work, when you need help, go to the doctor. Get your treatment. Because if it was so easy for you to believe in pseudoscience, why is it so hard to believe in something that has been proven to work? But again, this is from an outsider perspective and I’d love to learn what people with a cancer diagnosis think.
In many respects, I do wonder if Apple Cider Vinegar is good representation when it comes to cancer. For all I know this could be another Emilia Pérez. What I do know is that Kaitlyn Dever and Alycia Debnam-Carey were powerful counterparts in a show that disturbed me as much as it intrigued me. I also know that Apple Cider Vinegar was based on the book The Woman Who Fooled the World: The True Story of Fake Wellness Guru Belle Gibson by Beau Donelly and Nick Toscano, the journalists who uncovered the truth about Belle. And I know that this is the kind of TV that you should strive to make.
Like art, you should feel moved by a piece. Either it be in disgust or joy. Apple Cider Vinegar was that art. And it made me feel disgust, anger, and a whole heap of worry for how easily people will put their lives on the line for things that have a speck of evidence.
Apple Cider Vinegar is now available on Netflix.
