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[Spoilers if you haven’t watched the show!]
Disclaimer, written for the screen and directed by the brilliant Alfonso Cuarón (Roma, Gravity, Children of Men) is a 7-episode miniseries on Apple TV+ that’s an adaptation of the novel by Renée Knight.
Using Catherine Ravenscroft’s (Cate Blanchett) character as a point of reference, Disclaimer confronts us with the brutal lived experiences of countless women around the world, Malaysia included.
The show follows Catherine, a respected investigative journalist whose carefully curated life begins to unravel when she receives a mysterious manuscript in the mail.
The novel – ominously titled The Perfect Stranger – claims that all resemblance to real people is intentional, and as she flips through the pages, Catherine realises with horror that the main character is unmistakably her.
According to The Perfect Stranger, years ago, Robert (Sacha Baron Cohen), Catherine, and her young son Nicholas went on holiday to Italy but Robert had to leave suddenly for work. Catherine then meets Jonathan (Louis Partridge) and grooms him to be her sex toy while her husband is away.
They have a very (and I mean, very) passionate affair initiated by Catherine, until Jonathan wants to take it to the next level. A heated argument between them ends up in Jonathan’s death as he drowns trying to save little Nicholas who, left unattended, ended up in the middle of the raging sea.
The whole ordeal, obviously, paints Catherine as a horny, selfish whore that lied to her family and was complicit in the death of a young man. The only thing that proves the words written in the novel is a series of explicit and provocative photographs that Jonathan took of Catherine.
The Perfect Stranger was written by Jonathan’s mom, Nancy (Lesley Manville) and was discovered by her husband Stephen Brigstocke (Kevin Kline) after she died. In a frenzy of rage and revenge, Stephen published the book under a pseudonym and successfully turned Robert, Nicholas, and Catherine’s colleagues against her.
Everything that we see throughout the show supports the narrative that Catherine is in fact who the book paints her to be.
There’s also third-person narration throughout the series that becomes disorienting after a while: Is this voice supposed to be our voice, supporting the narrative that’s against Catherine?
It’s important to note that at this point, we never got to hear Catherine’s side of things.
Despite the amount of times she’s tried to reach Stephen, he never wants to hear it, and the same goes for her husband.
It’s only until Nicholas ends up with a drug-overdose induced stroke after Stephen sends him the explicit photos of his mom to ‘show him who she really is’, that Catherine breaks – and breaks into Stephen’s home.
It’s only in Episode 7 that we hear Catherine.
Catherine reveals to Stephen that after stalking her the entire day, Jonathan broke into her hotel room, held her at knifepoint, forced her to pose for photos, and raped her repeatedly for three and a half hours before leaving. The next day, he drowned while saving Nicholas. Catherine had gathered physical evidence of the rape but destroyed it after his death, wanting the memory to die with him.
She also became pregnant soon after, and – fearing the baby might be Jonathan’s – chose to terminate.
What has this got to do with violence against women in Malaysia?
Belief in rape myths is closely linked to rape-supportive attitudes and sexual entitlement.
Drawing from the extensive study conducted by the Women’s Aid Organisation (WAO) in 2021 on Malaysian Public Attitudes and Perceptions towards Violence Against Women (VAW), 83.4% of Malaysians – both men and women – believe rape occurs because men cannot control their sexual urges.
51.3% believe that rape happens because of how women dress. This reflects a broader societal tendency to excuse perpetrators and place the burden of prevention on victims.
Such myths falsely frame rape as a result of uncontrollable male desire, rather than what it truly is: a deliberate act of power, dominance, and control. When these myths are used to justify sexual violence, they fuel victim-blaming narratives, making women responsible for their own victimisation and allowing perpetrators to escape accountability – both socially and legally.
High acceptance of rape myths not only undermines the concept of consent but also reflects an implicit belief that male needs override female autonomy.
This minimisation of consent contributes to a culture where women’s actions, attire, or behaviour are scrutinised more than the violent acts committed against them.
Rape culture, reinforced by these beliefs, normalises violence against women and is unlikely to remain confined to informal social attitudes. Its influence likely extends into formal support systems, including frontline services and the criminal justice system – institutions meant to protect survivors but may instead mirror the public’s harmful views.
This in turn causes women who have gone through rape to experience overwhelming shame and guilt, and take their trauma to their grave before speaking up and seeking help or justice.
Nobody thought to confirm Nancy’s story – not even Robert.
Nancy could’ve never known what actually happened in Italy, since she was never there. But she saw the explicit photos and conjured up a story in her head to preserve the memory of her dead son. And it was easier for Robert to believe the words of a man he never met than his own wife.
The most powerful interactions of the show happen in Episode 7 between Robert and Stephen, and Robert and Catherine. Robert, upset with Stephen for not verifying the book’s claims before publishing it because of how it irrevocably damaged the relationship between him and his wife asks him: “Why didn’t you question it?” Right before the elevator doors close between them, Stephen asks the more important question: “Why didn’t you?”
After, Robert repeatedly apologises to Catherine but the hurt is far too deep. “I know I should forgive you, but the truth is, I can’t,” Catherine says. “You’re managing the idea of me having been violated by someone far more easily than the idea of that someone bringing me pleasure. It’s almost like you’re relieved that I was raped. I don’t know how to forgive that.”
Attitudes supportive of violence against women feeds into victim blaming and the perpetuation of myths surrounding violence, which becomes permissible in societal structures where men are valued over women.
A Study on Malaysian Public Attitudes and Perceptions towards Violence Against Women (VAW), Women’s Aid Organisation (WAO).
Literally no one wanted to hear Catherine out – everybody just assumed and took things at face value. It’s not just that everyone in the show believed she was to blame, we as the audience are also encouraged to believe the lie.
Disclaimer holds up a mirror to the troubling ways violence against women is often downplayed or dismissed in Malaysian society, reflecting a broader tendency by certain segments of society to blame victims.
The study reports there is an almost equal split (52.7%) between respondents who oppose violence against women and those who hold attitudes that support or are complicit towards it.
In the same study, we hear it from multiple survivors – of how their feelings, reactions, and experiences were dismissed – not just by the police or authorities, but even by their own family members and friends.
Some experiences should not be universal.
Whether in Malaysia or in a different part of the world, violence against women should not be normalised, and Disclaimer masterfully shows us the lasting and sometimes irreversible damage it does to women and their families.
Disclaimer is available to watch on Apple TV+. Viewer discretion is advised.
READ MORE: What’s Going On In Kelantan? Rape & Incest Cases Jump 15%
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