The Staircase (2004)

Original title

Soupçons

Directed by

Jean-Xavier de Lestrade

Genre

documentary film

Country

France

Length

1 season, 13 episodes

Rated

TV-MA

Rating

7.6 of 10 from 201 voters

Elsewhere

IMDb

How it feels

A French documentary crew films the trial of Michael Peterson, a man accused of murdering his wife after she is found dead at the bottom of a staircase. The series follows the defense team and Peterson's family as the legal process unfolds.

slow-burnclinicaltensesomberobservationalintimatedisturbingmethodical

What happens

The Staircase (French: Soupçons, lit. 'Suspicions'; also known as Death on the Staircase) is a 2004 French-produced, English-language documentary television miniseries directed by Jean-Xavier de Lestrade about the trial of Michael Peterson, who was convicted in 2003 of murdering his wife, Kathleen Peterson. De Lestrade had won an Oscar for his recent Murder on a Sunday Morning documentary. Attracted to issues in the Peterson case, he arranged to begin filming soon after the indictment. Camera crews were given access to the accused's extended family, the defense attorneys, and the courtroom. An abbreviated version was broadcast as a special two-hour presentation of American news show Primetime Thursday on July 22, 2004. The miniseries was completed in September 2004, and premiered in October on Canal+, from January 10–14, 2005, on BBC Four (as part of its Storyville documentary series), and from April 4–25 on Sundance Channel. Lestrade returned to film Peterson and his family in 2012–2013, covering developments in the case that were released as a two-hour sequel. Three new episodes with further updates were later made for Netflix, and in 2018, the streaming channel added all 13 episodes to its catalog, making it available as one series. (from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA)

Trailer

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