A real story based on a lie

? Netflix’s Apple Cider Vinegar is based on the remarkable true (kinda) story of Belle Gibson, an Australian wellness influencer who built an empire on a foundation of lies. The six-part limited series explores not just the mechanics of a con, but the psychology behind it, and the cultural factors that allowed it to flourish.

Gibson’s meteoric rise in the early 2010s came after claiming that she cured her terminal brain cancer through diet and alternative therapies. Her wellness app, cookbook, and Instagram presence, helped her amass 200k followers — which was a lot back then — before her lies were exposed.

What makes Apple Cider Vinegar stand out from Netflix’s growing catalog of scammer tales is a nuanced approach to what could have easily been just another melodrama. Kaitlyn Dever’s tour-de-force portrayal of Gibson gives emotional complexity to a character that could have been portrayed as a one-dimensional villain. Instead, we see the layers of Gibson’s psyche — her desperate need for attention, her calculated manipulation, and moments of what appear to be genuine self-delusion.

The show is at its strongest when examining the ecosystem that enabled Gibson’s deception. The parallel storyline of Milla Blake (Alycia Debnam-Carey), a rival wellness blogger who actually has cancer and truly believes in the alternative treatments she promotes, the women’s magazines, book publishers, and tech companies are all painted as complicit — whether directly or not — in creating an environment that made Gibson’s story believable and compelling, especially to those failed by traditional medicine.

WHERE TO WATCH- Apple Cider Vinegar is streaming on Netflix, and you can find the trailer on YouTube (watch, runtime: 2:39).