HOME / ENTERTAINMENT / TV

Netflix's 'Unbelievable' deals with the complexity of reporting sexual assault and dealing with the trauma after

When the protagonist files a police report claiming that she was sexually assaulted by an intruder in her own home, the investigating officers refuse to believe her story. 

Netflix's 'Unbelievable' is inspired by the real events in The Marshall Project and ProPublica Pulitzer Prize-winning article 'An Unbelievable Story of Rape'. Written by T. Christian Miller and Ken Armstrong and the This American Life radio episode titled 'Anatomy of Doubt', this miniseries begins with the story of the teenaged Marie Adler (played by Kaitlyn Dever). When she files a police report claiming that she was sexually assaulted by an intruder in her own home, the investigating officers refuse to believe her story. 

It is not just the investigating officers who take not one but several steps back to analyze and reanalyze Adler's account of the horrific accident, it is her family members and those closest to her too. At first, one can feel a lingering sense of doubt. This isn't necessarily planted by a faulty account at the end of the victim. Instead, it stems from the notion that the woman is lying, that she has ulterior motives to come out with this. That her account is bogus, that she "made it up". This is exactly what one of the male investigators says in the trailer – that Marie Adler, a teenager who reported to the police that she was raped in her own home was lying about it.

Adler's account is not the only one that investigators refuse to believe. In 'Unbelievable', Adler is not the only victim. In different parts of the country, other women are being attacked in a similar way – the women live alone, they're single and regardless of their age and ethnicity, they are attacked. While no one believes Adler's account, hundreds of miles away, detectives Grace Rasmussen and Karen Duvall (played by Emmy winners Toni Collette and Merritt Wever) meet while investigating an eerily similar pair of intruder rapes and partner together to catch a potential serial rapist.

Directed by Oscar nominees Susannah Grant and Lisa Cholodenko, "Unbelievable" is a story of unspeakable trauma, unwavering tenacity, and astounding resilience. Showrunner Grant executive produces the series, from CBS Television Studios, along with Sarah Timberman, Carl Beverly, Lisa Cholodenko, Ayelet Waldman, Michael Chabon, Katie Couric, Richard Tofel, Neil Barsky, Robyn Semien, and Marie.

This is not to discount the fact that there are fake cases filed by some women. But this doesn't take away from the fact that women have to really muster the courage to come out with the account of a harrowing incident like this. Women are fully aware that the first reaction is going to be disbelief – women want you to dig deeper. 

The miniseries comes to Netflix on September 13, 2019.

You can watch the trailer for the miniseries here: