DISCLAIMER Stars Cate Blanchett, Kevin Klein and Sacha Baron Cohen

DISCLAIMER by two-time Best Director Oscar winner, Alfonso Clarion now airing on Netflix is a sexy, seven part thriller that proves cunning and entertaining. Our main character is Catherine Ravenscroft (played by the incomparable Cate Blanchett). She's a highly regarded documentarian. The series begins with Cristiane Amanpour presenting Catherine a reward for her reporting. Amanpour warns the audience of the power narrative and form to enlighten and mislead. The film itself uses several voice-over  narratives clarifying what we're watching. This clever use of voice-overs which first seemed unwarranted, play a crucial role in unraveling facts from fiction in this duplicitous drama. There are two entwined families connected by a fatal drowning. The prominent, wealthy Ravenscrots, elegant Catherine, her husband Robert (Sacha Baron Cohen) and their 25 year old son Nicholas. The other family, Stephen (Kevin Klein) and Nancy Brigstocke (Leslie Manville), both teachers, live a modest lifestyle with their son, Jonathan. After the awards ceremony, the film travels 20 years in flashback to a young Catherine, with her then 5 year old son vacationing on the Italian shore. Here they encounter Jonathan at age 19, after his girlfriend just returned to London. Catherine lures the timid but eager Jonathan to her suite and the two have steamy sex per Catherine's instructions. Catherine in turn, willingly poses for Jonathan's camera per his direction. The next day, Nicholas became adrift alone in a raft while Catherine napped. Jonathan is the first to reach Nicholas bringing him to safety but then Jonathan drowns in the undertow.  Be wary of fractured story telling. The Bristockes are devastated by their grief. Nancy retreats into Jonathan's room and writes a novel signifying Catherine as the woman who had lurid sex with her son and idly watched him drown. Stephen publishes the novel posthumously and enacts a twisted plot of revenge to shame Catherine and make her suffer. Copies are sent to her co-workers and to her husband and son with photos Jonathan had taken. Catherine's life goes into a tailspin; she's spurned at work, her husband abandons her and their son overdoses. The enticing scenes over seven episodes allow the viewer to form their own perspectives to consider how things will pan out. Blanchett is pitch perfect as the polished wife with a well-kept secret. Klein is alarmingly crazed and Cohen is convincing as a whiny husband. This easily binge worthy series will enthrall the viewer in a world of fascinating facades that crumble. DISCLAIMER is gripping and captivating to calculate where the viewer was misdirected and manipulated.