Inventing Anna comes under fire from reviewers for turning scammer into ‘girlboss’ cult figure
Why is Netflix celebrating the ‘fake heiress’? Inventing Anna comes under fire from reviewers for turning scammer into ‘girlboss’ cult figure while painting victims as ‘idiots’
Shonda Rhimes’ drama Inventing Anna was released on streaming service todayTells story of Anna Sorokin, the fraudster known as the ‘fake heiress’ Anna DelveyShe conned New York society and hotels out of $275,000 before being exposedReviews claim glamourised version of story is turning criminal into cult figure
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Critics have rounded on the new Netflix series Inventing Anna, which tells the story of Anna Sorokin, a fraudster better known as ‘fake heiress’ Anna Delvey, for glorifying the $275,000 con artist, while painting her victims as ‘idiots’.
Released on the streaming service today, Shonda Rhimes’ latest drama reveals how Sorokin posed as a rich Russian socialite to scam New York high society, leaving friends out of pocket and a trail of unpaid hotel bills in her wake before being exposed.
The series, starring Ozark’s Julia Garner as the titular character, is told through the eyes of journalist Vivian (Anna Chlumsky) and begins with Megan Thee Stallion’s Rich playing over footage of articles about Anna going to press.
While the grifter is instantly portrayed as egoistical and self-obsessed – the show begins by highlighting how the scammer was turned into a cult figure on social media, with devotees hailing her ‘iconic’.
Now reviewers have criticised the portrayal of Anna as a ‘feminist girlboss’ while her victims – the upper echelon of New York society – appear to be gullible and ‘idiotic’ for falling into her traps.
Shonda Rhimes’ drama Inventing Anna was released on Netflix today with Ozark’s Julia Garner as the titular character
Shonda Rhimes’ latest drama reveals how Anna Sorokin (pictured in 2019) scammed New York society and hotels out of $275,000 before being exposed as a con artist
Sorokin, a Russian born German who moved to the US in 2013, would befriend wealthy socialites before conning them out of thousands of dollars under the promise she would transfer funds from Germany.
She was charged with grand larceny and sentenced to four to 12 years in prison for her crimes in 2019. However she was released early for good behaviour in February last year and now temporarily lives at the NoMad luxury hotel in New York.
As The Times‘ Ben Dowell points out, Sorokin is portrayed as ‘misunderstood’ while each episode of the drama ‘scrutinises’ each victim who was impacted by Anna’s scams.
‘If you think this suspect-by-suspect approach sounds in keeping with a generally moralising tone, you’d be right, but this is not finger-waggy in the way you might expect’, he wrote.
Sorokin, a Russian born German who moved to the US in 2013, would befriend wealthy socialites before conning them out of thousands of dollars. Garner is pictured in the Netflix series
She was charged with grand larceny and sentenced to four to 12 years in prison for her crimes in 2019. However she was released early for good behaviour in February last year. Garner is pictured in the Netflix series
‘If anything, Julia Garner’s Anna ends this show as its heroine, or at least someone we suddenly find we’re meant to be rooting for.’
From the beginning of the series, Anna is painted as an underdog up against the snobbish New York elite – with opening scenes showing a victim of Sorkin’s dismissing the impact of her crimes by asking: ‘Who else would be interested in lowly Anna Sorokin’.
Meanwhile, the I‘s Emily Baker agrees the show is ‘undoubtedly soft on Delvey’ with minimal emphasis on the real life impact of her crimes and pointing out she was paid $320,000 to sell her story to Netflix.
‘Often, Vivian is impressed with her gall – in committing only white-collar crimes against those who could afford it, the scammer is given a pass’, she writes.
‘Delvey (both in real life and in the show) has spoken about being a hustler, a young woman making it in the big bad capitalistic world in the face of sexism. Inventing Anna turns her into the 2010s girl boss feminist she pretends to be.’
The story is told through the eyes of journalist Vivian (Anna Chlumsky) and begins with Megan Thee Stallion’s Rich playing over footage of articles about Anna going to press
Garner and Chlumsky are pictured in the show speaking about the scammer’s crimes in prison. One reviewer pointed out Sorokin was paid $320,000 to sell her story to Netflix
Dowell continues to point out that her victims are characterised as ‘idiots’ who are taken in by Sorkin and fail to realise she is Russian ‘despite her absurd James Bond villainess accent.’
NME’s Ralph Jones also claimed the show ‘fails to humanise Delvey’ and that making her seem like an ‘idiot with a ridiculous accent’ only serves to make viewers believe it would have been near impossible to lured in by the con artist.
Writing for Refinery 29, Maybelle Morgan agrees the drama ‘certainly isn’t empathetic to Delvey’s victims’ who are seen primarily enjoying expensive workout classes and hotel bars.
‘Portrayed as shrill and almost deserving of the white collar felonies, it really homes in on the fact that there was mainly such a hurrah because of the public humiliation of being so readily deceived. After all, who dares embarrass the New York glitterati?, she writes.
‘With the combination of Garner’s bizarre accent and some overacting from Anna Chlumsky it feels like a lacklustre non-starter which uses the girlboss agenda – in a post-girlboss world – to rile our spirits.’
