The series adapts Atwood’s 1995 novel and the real-life story of Grace Marks, a 19th century woman who may or may not have been a vicious killer
With the highly successful Hulu series, The Handmaid’s Tale, everyone must have thought that Margaret Atwood was operating at peak intensity when she wrote the 1985 novel that inspired the series. Friends, you were wrong.
Atwood is one of the most cutting writers today and she’s utterly unafraid to pull back the curtain on humanity’s darkest truths. Whether you’re reading The Handmaid’s Tale, Oryx and Crake, The Heart Goes Last, or any of her other numerous works, you’ll soon learn that intensity is kind of Atwood’s thing.
Such is the case with Alias Grace, her 1995 novel following the life of Grace Marks, an Irish-Canadian maid. Marks was a real person who was put on trial for the murder of her employer, Thomas Kinnear and his housekeeper, Nancy Montgomery. After nearly three decades spent in a Canadian penitentiary, Marks was released and moved to New York state. She then completely disappeared from history.
Now, Netflix and CBC Television have collaborated on a miniseries adaptation of Atwood’s book. It stars Sarah Gadon as the title character. The series also includes Paul Gross as Thomas Kinnear and Anna Paquin as Nancy Montgomery. Edward Holcroft plays Dr. Simon Jordan, a fictional character who sees Grace as both an intriguing mystery and his ticket to medical fame. The miniseries is directed by Mary Harron (American Psycho) and adapted by Sarah Polley (Away from Her).
Did Grace Marks do it?
In the novel, Atwood generally follows Marks’ story, though with a rich internal monologue that Marks herself could never speak aloud. She also takes this opportunity to examine the particular humiliations faced by a young, female immigrant to Canada during the early 19th century. Indeed, in many of her works, Atwood explores the different and subtle ways that society likes to build a cage around a woman.
Grace herself seems to be bound up in an endless series of cages. She’s an Irish immigrant at a time when numerous Canadians and Americans found them to be nearly sub-human. She’s poor and is therefore forced to work for careless, selfish, and outright abusive employers.
Marks is also a woman on a remote, 19th century Canadian farm. She’s regularly subjected to sexual advances and unfair assumptions about her strength, intelligence and character. How could such a vulnerable person not be utterly consumed by rage?
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In the book, it’s never made clear whether or not Marks killed her employer and his housekeeper. Was she the victim of manipulation and abuse? Could she have been little more than a horrified bystander? Or, is it possible that small, quiet Grace is actually a remorseless murderer? Even she won’t approach the issue directly, saying that, “if there has been a crime, people want a guilty person.”
Will the series answer any of these questions? Only time and Netflix will tell. Alias Grace will be released on Sept. 25 on CBC . It arrives Nov. 3 on Netflix.