Inventing Anna is an American drama television miniseries created by Shonda Rhimes, inspired by the story of Anna Sorokin and the article in New York titled "How Anna Delvey Tricked New York's Party People"[1] by Jessica Pressler. It was produced by Shondaland. Netflix released the miniseries on February 11, 2022.[2][3]
The miniseries stars Julia Garner in the title role. Critics praised its performances (particularly Garner) but criticized its inconsistent tone.
Premise
Under the assumed name Anna Delvey, Russian-born Anna Sorokin infiltrated New York's high society by convincing them she was a German socialite and an heiress to a massive fortune, all while scheming and scamming them out of millions.
In June 2018, Netflix and Shondaland acquired the rights to the life story of Anna Sorokin and the New York article "How Anna Delvey Tricked New York's Party People" by Jessica Pressler, with plans to turn it into a television series with Shonda Rhimes serving as producer and writer, alongside Betsy Beers. Sorokin received $320,000, which was used to pay restitution and legal fees.[6]David Frankel was named as director and executive producer of two episodes of the series, including the first.[7]
On February 11, 2022, Inventing Anna premiered on Netflix.[3]
Reception
Reviews
On review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, the series holds a 64% approval rating based on 87 reviews, with an average rating of 6.2/10. The website's critics consensus reads, "While Inventing Anna is as tonally wobbly as Julia Garner's intentionally daffy accent, her committed performance and the salacious story make for juicy entertainment."[14] On Metacritic, the series has a score of 57 out of 100, based on 34 reviews, indicating "mixed or average reviews".[15]
Saloni Gajjar of The A.V. Club gave the limited series a B− and said, "Despite its more evocative performances, Inventing Anna demands patience that doesn't pay off, squandering its promising potential along the way."[16] Reviewing the series for Rolling Stone, Alan Sepinwall gave a rating of 2/5 and described it as "an overly long muddle, never quite sure what it wants to say about its title character, or how to say it."[17]
Mike Hale, television critic at the New York Times, praised some elements of the series and criticized others. Notably, he compared the original thrilling nature of the article to the slower pace of the television series: "Pressler's article was like a speeding car, a thrill ride that kept your pulse up right until it went off a cliff. Inventing Anna is a long, pokey road trip with no G.P.S. All of Pressler's most colorful anecdotes and appalling details have been squeezed in, sometimes tweaked to fit better within what is now a fictional narrative. But the thrill is gone."[18]
Hayley Maitland of Vogue faulted the series for misrepresenting a "Celine-obsessed grifter" as a "21st-century Jay Gatsby, with 281 Park Avenue standing in for Daisy Buchanan". She also noted that the series identified real person Rachel Deloache Williams by full name, real employer, real apartment location, and real alma mater but showed major falsehoods about her, including wearing expensive designer clothes given to her by Anna Delvey, even though Delvey never gave her any clothes; being fired for putting the unexpected $62,000 cost of the trip on her company credit card, even though she transferred the full amount to her personal credit card; and admitting at the courthouse right after giving her testimony that the credit card company had forgiven the debt, even though that did not happen until after the trial was over. Maitland also faults the series for demonizing Williams for doing essentially the same thing a sympathetic character does and points out that Williams is the victim most injured by Delvey. [19]
Audience viewership
According to Samba TV, 1.6 million US households watched the Netflix series in its first 4 days of streaming.[20]
The series is among Netflix's all-time most watched English language TV series, with 511.92 million hours watched in the first 28 days of release.[21]
