The Staircase

2004 "Accident or cold-blooded murder?"
7.8| 6h0m| NA| en| More Info
Released: 01 June 2004 Released
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Academy Award-winning documentary filmmaker, Jean-Xavier de Lestrade, presents a gripping courtroom thriller, offering a rare and revealing inside look at a high-profile murder trial. In 2001, author Michael Peterson was arraigned for the murder of his wife Kathleen, whose body was discovered lying in a pool of blood on the stairway of their home. Granted unusual access to Peterson's lawyers, home and immediate family, de Lestrade's cameras capture the defense team as it considers its strategic options. "The staircase" is an engrossing look at contemporary American justice that features more twists than a legal bestseller.

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The Staircase Audience Reviews

CheerupSilver Very Cool!!!
Dotsthavesp I wanted to but couldn't!
Freeman This film is so real. It treats its characters with so much care and sensitivity.
Jerrie It's a good bad... and worth a popcorn matinée. While it's easy to lament what could have been...
riot_guuy In many ways this series became what it captured - an exercise in both the tedium and personalities involved in a lengthy court case. The entertainment which was gripping at times, is balanced by many many scenes of the protagonist making dinner, smoking, standing on his soap-box, all things which could have been left out for a sharper watch. Much of the entertainment for me was some of the witnesses and their fruitiness; their levels of expertise stacking up against each other on opposite sides of the case; and the way Peterson, some of his family, and his legal team seem to skate through the whole process with a crazy amount of levity as if escaping conviction was a fait accompli so let's all joke about Peterson going to jail. I suppose some of their behaviour could have been curtailed at Peterson's insistence because they were on his coin, but it must have fed his self-belief (and as others have pointed out, his over-confidence) so he let it be. There's enjoyment to be had, but I found much of it is ironic enjoyment. Give yourself a couple of rainy days to wade through all shots of cooking and Peterson's tangential diatribes which his legal team were paid a pretty penny to listen to.
cmstanley-08433 His son...................................... He Kill Kathleen Peterson
amazon-568-465972 I watched this and was enthralled by it - fantastic exciting TV and journalism. Edge of the seat stuff. HOWEVER - I then did some more research and found that the team producing this series was very selective in what they included. For example there was virtually no mention of the very significant financial issues the couple were in, or the fact that one of the french crew (Sophie Brunet, the film's editor) was having a relationship with Michael for many years during the making of the program. What about the fact that Kathleen had a large life insurance policy.... These and other issues either were totally ignored or at best mentioned in passing. This is unforgivable!
NikkiHassinger This was completely a biased tale of a bizarre man that ultimately is painstakingly unsatisfying. The editing is atrocious and could have been trimmed at least by half and knowing that he had a 15 year relationship with the films editor completely discredits this film among many other things.