Ghislaine Maxwell: Stinkreich

Women (and men) recounted stories of being propositioned for sexual favors. Minors were mentioned, although evidence of crimes against those minors was scarce.

This films presents as a team of prosecutors and others who seem to use emotional tactics to convict in a court of public opinion.

I believe that Ghislaine Maxwell is guilty of crimes against minors, but if I were on a jury and this content was the extent of the prosecution's evidence, not guilty would be my verdict...and I'd stand on that decision, saddened by the potential miscarriage of justice, shaking my head.

Maybe the prosecution delivers compelling evidence in the courtroom.

As for this film, even a man was complaining that G. Maxwell had made sexual advances towards him. Is this supposed to be evidence of criminal behavior? See the Cole Hons interview around minute 106.

In another instance of lacking evidence, one of the prosecuting attorneys spoke of a victim by saying, "...she was extraordinarily young when she was recruited by GM..."

What does it mean to be extraordinarily young? Is the person two years old? Is she negative age? I concluded that his claim was more emotional manipulation.

Later, we find that the victim was 14 at the time of the alleged crimes. Then, we have no further information. How was the girl recruited? Where were her parents? What were the circumstances?

I found the whole film to be a pursuit of emotional manipulation rather than a delivery of facts that speak for themselves.

Shameless.

Can we go this hard against the celebrities and the world leaders who used Epstein's and Maxwell's services to exploit minors and to traffic sex workers? Where's the documentary that calls them out?

I suppose for anyone who hasn't been following anything to do with Jeffery Epstein much would find this hot gossip and juicy news. In some areas maybe but all up alot of the documentary besides some small easy to find information on her own case is just rehashing old news. I think its very fair to say you dont really need to watch this to know whats going on which is quite disappointing because there should be so much more to say. The quality of the documentary is good for it does have, it explains things well and still keeps things interesting. I would have rated this higher if it didn't feel like one of those doccos that was just made for the sake of making. From a Journalist prospective I believe more effort could have been involved.

I struggle with parts of this case. I do not struggle with anything that has to do with 14 yo girls. However I do struggle with aspiring models, actresses & massage therapists acting completely shocked at being propositioned for sexual favors in return for money. The Jeffrey Epstein version interviews Annie Farmer's sister who was/is an artist & was receiving gifts, being put up in mansions to nothing but her art, etc & then at a certain point was propositioned for sex...ran in to a room and barricaded her self & left...but then allowed her younger sister to go there & surprise surprise the same thing happened

I guess my heart is black because it seems like anyone with half a brian & a bit of savvy would not accept any of these "gifts" w/o assuming there would eventually be a quid pro quo & at some point the giftee would want something in return.

Of course I'm only speaking of the women that are of age(which varies drastically from state to state & country to country. In fact 16 is the age of consent in most states in the USA). Maybe my ego is low? But did these women think that they were so amazing that people were just going to sponsor their careers, academic goals at the tune of thousands of dollars because they were so smart and interesting? The world is FULL of people doing very demeaning things for far less money.

These docs also put their finger in the scale by showing old photos of these women either years prior to the incident, or when they have no makeup on & look their absolute youngest.

I also would not be surprised if the reason we don't hear about all of the other "friends" of JE/GM is because there are secret settlement negotiations going on with them to keep their names out of the media.

Toward the end of the "Documentary" I found it very rich for an Attorney w/Jeffrey Boice's history to say something to the effect of "...these people need to be heard, powerful people can't...blah blah..."...Boice was one of the attorneys that AMBUSHED Tyler Shultz(the main whistleblower of the Theranos case)at his grandfather George Shultz's home in an attempt to force him to recant & sign NDA documents. An event that basically wrecked Tyler's relationship with his grandfather.

I realize attorneys are going to do attorney things & are essential(esp being questioned by police in ANY facet. ALWAYS say you want an attorney present...no matter what). But it's a little cringe when Attorney's that mostly have represented the uber wealthy bang the table for the little guy

Anyway in the zeitgeist of our times, there is no way a documentary delving in to this case &/or subject matter can even dip its toes in the balanced waters. The closest they came here was reading some of the cross examination & immediately calling it "rough" or "harsh" when I'm sure everyone of those attorneys would have taken the exact same plays from that playbook had they been retained by the other side.

I liked the small bit that talked about Ghislane's background. Being an American I wasn't as familiar with her as I'm sure people from the UK are. But nothing else was really illuminating if you've even just barely been following the heels of coverage this case has gotten(seems like the media almost trying to make up for dropping the ball on the original JE conviction?)

All that said I give this a 2/5...on par with one of the better episodes of the crappy, paint-by-numbers American true crime shows like "Dateline" & "48hrs"

I'm not saying she didn't do the things she's accused (and was ultimately found guilty) of doing, but these testimonials from prior associates and "survivors" don't really tell that story.

They selectively tell the story of a person who, like frankly a lot of people in the 90s/80s/70s, was riding the 'Super Freak' train.

There's the adult store clerk "survivor" who Maxwell hit on/pursued/made uncomfortable with salacious advances; the adult massage therapist who, because she was abused as a child, found herself unable to say 'no' to Maxwell's sexual advances; a group of adults to whom Maxwell proposed a party game where blindfolded male guests were to fondle the breasts of female guests.

Discomfiting, inappropriate, kinky, yes ... but criminal?

Again. Not saying she didn't do those other things. After all, she was found guilty in 2021 of child sex trafficking.

I just found this documentary to be pretty thin.

I quit watching after the photographer's testimonial. He tells the story of a photo shoot Maxwell arranged to promote her ocean conservancy efforts. The shoot takes place on the beach and Maxwell shows up wearing her 'save-the-ocean' tee shirt and ... gasp ... stiletto heels!

The photographer bows his head pensively and sighs.

'If only he'd recognized the signs,' his sad, faraway gaze seems to say.

Genuinely liked the amount of interviews & information provided. All very curated however, and while I can't fault what limitations the show-runners had to deal with to get so many interviews with "family & friends" of ghislane, this film stinks of propaganda.

At the end of the day Ghislane was thrown under the bus, more or less, to quash public curiousity & outrage. Same deal in this film as far as I can tell, except they add some sympathetic story threads for her.

Watching this film will not change anyone's mind who believes that Epstein was killed to send a message to others. The only story anyone gets to hear is that he was the devil, and NOTHING else happened.