Martha Stewart, une icône américaine

Somehow I don't find it surprising that Martha Stewart complained publicly to no less than the New York Times about the final cut of the 2024 documentary about her life even though she fully cooperated with longtime documentarian R. J. Cutler on the production. After all, she is a legendary perfectionist who changed the fabric of American lifestyle culture and became the country's first self-made female billionaire. She was appalled that a big chunk of the film was devoted to her conviction and 150-day imprisonment two decades ago (including a day in solitary confinement for what seemed to be a minor infraction), yet this section (replete with illustrations) was the most compelling part of her story. Cutler does a masterful job covering her life, triggering Stewart to discuss aspects of her childhood, marriage, relationships, and business dealings that reveal the price she has paid for her perfectionism. Her life since prison has been an intriguing example of reinvention with unexpected notoriety that has proven fortuitous to her enduring brand. She is truly brilliant but with that detached sense of entitlement that still limits how much of her story she is willing to share even now. This documentary provides clear evidence what a fascinating life Stewart has led due in no small part to her unflinching tenacity and almost telepathic sense of what her audience wants.

She was the riches woman in America and first billionaire women, what an amazing achievement and living the American dream a pioneer influencer.

It was a real interesting on the one hand is a perfect woman who was like a Disney princess, a real-life Mary popping or Cinderella, she brought joy in to the world by showing people how to improve their life's. Long before the internet took off.

I was amazed how much energy she had, she influenced people including men, as much as women. Building a brand and understanding what people want and creating the future.

In a man's world this documentary showed how she pitched ideas to the most powerful men and got rejected. She stuck to her guns and got her ideas out, finding someone to help her publish her magazines.

This documentary tells her story of her father being a salesman and strict upbringing.

Her family about to fall apart and Luckly she manages to get modelling job and meets a young rich man who wants to marry her and she agrees, to reverse her family's bad fortune.

Then her own father tries to stop her marriage and yet she still marries a rich man and his connections allow her to meet people that change her life forever.

How much was chance and fate and how much was her drive leading her.

A successful marriage ended with infidelity and as this documentary is her story, she tells you he cheated first. Then says how she created an opportunity for her husband to cheat and regrets that now and talks about how she cheated on him and loved him.

She starting over again, just charms everyone makes a lot of money and Her connections before she knows she is in a relationship with a billionaire and is a billionaire herself. Her rag to riches story complete.

Then the downfall It seems odd that America would treat a person like this, let alone a woman a role model. Then they put her in jail and treat her like an animal. It is what you expect in Afghanistan or some dictatorship.

What was her crime, legally buying share and then her friend who owns the company, he broke the law told her to sell.

It was a mistake to sell those stocks, yet this has happened and most people don't go to jail. Her biggest error not having someone, who did the deed, she was caught. Power fall people lost money and someone has to pay and F. B. I investigated people involved.

I guess the fact she had bad legal advice and denied it made her look more guilty and this was a crime.

The strangest thing happened, as she was losing her power, people she trusted brought her down. If they lied or not is irrelevant now, the fact she was found guilty. This enabled people to take over her business and black list her running a company, she lost her circle of friends.

Bad person?

Then there is her attitude should she have just been nicer to people or is it a sign or weakness in business and her controlling attitude is what enabled her to create an empire.

It seems to come from her father's controlling and upbringing.

Like they say a leopard never changes its spots, yet she has managed to shed her old skin and is rebranded and keeps going.

In a way you could have seen her, as next president of U. S. A or back in jail for another crime.

She has the minus touch and seems to have achieved far beyond the cards she was delt at birth.

Down side to this documentary is that it is only her story.

I enjoyed this documentary for showing her story, but it does seem one sided and controlled and her ex-husbands and friends don't tell their side.

Martha Stewart, the person and brand, elicits a wide range of reactions. This excellent documentary should only elicit a tasteful standing ovation. It's thoughtful, funny, seemingly honest, and moves along briskly. At 83 years young, it only seems fair that Martha has a fair amount of influence on her life's story. And it is an impressive one. She was and still remains a staggering figure of confidence, vision, taste, strength, and humor. Hearing her answers to tough questions adds heft to this documentary, even if some responses are self serving or hypocritical. The visual style here is also clever and tells the story of Martha's rise, fall, and 2nd act in a compelling manner. Overall, Martha is a very good thing!

Ah, Martha, thanks, yet again, for complaining. This accurate, engaging documentary about a driven woman and her primarily pointless activities, her ability to monetize supposed perfection and finally, her nearly sociopathic personality is worth watching, if for no other reason than to familiarize yourself with a life most wouldn't want to live. Clearly, her childhood left its mark on her, unfortunately, not the right ones. Her ability to exaggerate and make the world rotate around her is clearly evident; her claim to be a "pioneer" in Westport is the best example. By the time she moved there, many of us (I am a Westporter) had been or were still living there for 20 years or more, and the town had been and was already home to people with more talent than she ever had. That she is a liar is why she landed in jail. Dismissing her infidelity as insignificant and the sadness so evident in her daughter booth stand as evidence of her true character. The arrogance to believe she can control either the film's content, much less how she appears, without having gotten that in the contract demonstrates that perhaps she isn't as smart as some might believe. True, she was a successful business woman in a male dominated world, I'll give her that....and she can have it.

This was hard for me to watch. It was void of goodness and much more about ego. Ego ego ego. It's sad because living as a perfectionist and void of true joy is what I felt in watching it. I can admire intelligence in the business world but Martha seems to live without almost any true emotional intelligence. I don't know. I hate to say that but it's my take. It was a pretty sad story and I can only imagine how people were treated along the way.

As far as the documentary. It was pretty cheesy to have friends and people who knew her speaking but not able to see them. It just added to the coldness.