# Alias Grace (2017)

> A psychiatrist revisits a decade-old murder case to help an imprisoned housemaid recall what she cannot remember.

Canonical page: https://ember.film/tv/63305

## Facts

- Seasons: 1
- Episodes: 6
- Episode runtime: 46 min
- Status: Ended
- Genres: drama, crime, history
- Created by: Sarah Polley
- Network: CBC Television
- Cast: Sarah Gadon, Edward Holcroft, Rebecca Liddiard, Zachary Levi, Kerr Logan, David Cronenberg, Paul Gross, Anna Paquin
- TMDB rating: 7.6/10
- IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1034007/

## Ember's analysis

- Pacing: measured
- Intensity: moderate
- Complexity: layered
- Violence: moderate
- Tone: melancholic, tense, austere, intimate, unsettling

## What critics say

Audiences rate the miniseries positively, praising its period atmosphere and the lead performance in a thoughtful psychological mystery.

## Synopsis

Alias Grace (2017) is a Canadian period crime drama miniseries created by Sarah Polley for CBC Television. Adapted from a novel and grounded in a real case, it follows Grace Marks (Sarah Gadon), an Irish immigrant housemaid imprisoned in 1843 for the murder of her employer Thomas Kinnear (Paul Gross). Grace insists she cannot remember the killing even though the facts seem damning. A decade later, psychiatrist Dr. Simon Jordan (Edward Holcroft) arrives to coax her memories into the open, and each session becomes a careful contest between her account and the institutions that want a neat verdict. The series unfolds across six episodes in which flashbacks reconstruct the household, its servants and its tensions, while the present-day interviews grow more intimate and unsettling. Its tone is measured, melancholic and quietly tense, foregrounding the constraints placed on women in nineteenth century Canada and the unreliable nature of memory. Viewers who appreciate The Handmaid's Tale, The Knick and Ripper Street will find a similar blend of period atmosphere, moral ambiguity and a story driven by a woman's testimony.

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