Belle Gibson rose to fame in the early 2010s, when the blogging format was gaining popularity: social networks were on the rise and gradually becoming the main platform for influencers. Netflix has a special love for stories about scammers and could not miss the chance to tell the chronicle of the woman's lies. In 2022, the platform released the series Inventing Anna – a drama about Anna Delvey, who pretended to be rich and infiltrated New York high society. The tone of Apple Cider Vinegar is reminiscent of a show about a con artist. In both cases, the authors end up reflecting on social media as a haven for falsehood.What Is Apple Cider Vinegar About?Belle Gibson tells her followers that doctors have given her a maximum of six months to live due to brain cancer. According to the blogger, only a healthy diet is helping her fight the disease. Everything would be fine, but Belle has not received a diagnosis. Soon, the influencer will create an app with recipes and sign a book deal, and millions of subscribers will follow the liar and listen to dubious advice. Gibson was inspired by the blog of Milla Blake, a young woman who is ill and who uses alternative treatments.Apple Cider Vinegar Dives Into Belle's Motivation, But Doesn't Justify It Director Jeffrey Walker opts for a non-linear narrative. We meet Belle in 2015 in the office of a crisis manager who has to help a blogger restore her reputation after she has been exposed. But soon the action moves back several years: a young pregnant woman is stuck in an unhealthy relationship, working at an unloved job and dreaming of success. The authors delve into Belle's past – a deeply traumatized woman who, as a child, tried to get at least a drop of attention from her estranged mother and, as an adult, began to seek the approval of society. But the writers do not try to justify the con artist: the series emphasizes that Belle is a pathological liar who, it seems, sometimes forgets where the truth ends and the lie begins.Apple Cider Vinegar Is a Worthy Show about Modern Social IssuesApple Cider Vinegar could have been a spectacular show about investigative journalism, but the new Netflix series takes a different way. In retelling the life of Belle Gibson, Jeffrey Walker creates a psychological drama about the consequences of deception and the harm of pseudoscientific theories.
