Alias Grace

Or: A Patchwork Creature

In 1859, in a small Canadian asylum, Dr. Simon Jordon (Steve Harrad), an alienist and Proto-Freudian (good name for a Star Trek species) sits down to talk with the young Grace Marks (Ashley Neal). Accused some years earlier of having murdered her employers, Grace’s conflicting testimony and reticence to unfold herself (understandable due to the often unsavory designs of her wardens), has become a favorite grizzly-sweet for the colony to suck upon. But Dr. Jordan’s findings, as he walks with Grace through her memories is surprising even to himself.

Having taken this spooky tale from the novel by Margaret Atwood, adaptor Jennifer Blackmer dives in to Graces memories, jumping between telling and remembrance like an otter from river to shore. It’s a bit harder to be befuddled by Jordon’s own laudanum laced hallucinations though that’s more in part due to the doctor’s manner as being that of an angst teen with a library of Nirvana T-shirts and an acre of eye-liner. Neal is more fun to spend time with, a genuinely giggly and blushing Irish gel, shyly enchanted with the world around her. Until, of course, she isn’t.

Like a climbing wall, Blackmer’s capable script gives us lots of clues to get a handle upon, though also like a climbing wall, there may be more than one way to reach the bell of conclusion at the top. A particularly nice touch is Jeremiah (Amro Salama) a jovial but cryptic peddler, who’s light hearted flutterings may mask an intent malignant or benevolent. Still, when the proof burns upon the pudding, what is entirely unambiguous is that Atwood’s Alias Grace, and Blackmer’s mount of it, is incredibly creepy, as designs either supernatural or deep or merely beyond understanding, stitches itself into place.