By Mallory Smith FP’24
Staff Writer
Graphic by Jieru Ye '23
Anna Sorokin could be called the ultimate con artist or a Robin Hood of the 2000s influencer era. Sorokin, also known by her alias Anna Delvey, is a convicted con artist who nearly conned her way into tens of millions of dollars. The Netflix series “Inventing Anna” dives into this story while examining the lengths that some people will go to attain wealth and fame. Despite the lead actress’s occasionally frustrating performance and the show’s lack of impartiality towards anyone other than Anna herself, the fantastic cast fully immerses themselves in their roles, managing to make Delvey’s story compelling.
“Inventing Anna” details the rise and fall of Sorokin (Julia Garner), a working class German-Russian immigrant posing as a German heiress, Anna Delvey. The show revolves around the publication of the May 2018 New York Magazine article, “Maybe She Had So Much Money She Just Lost Track of It,” by Jessica Pressler from the perspective of Vivian Kent (Anna Chlumsky), a character based on Pressler. As Vivian uncovers more about Anna’s life, she learns not only how close Anna came to securing swaths of stolen funds for her social club — The Anna Delvey Foundation — but also how many companies she scammed and the number of friends from whom she swindled money.
A major part of what makes this show entertaining is the absurdity of Anna’s scams. Even more amusing is how Anna made swindling these banks and investment firms appear so easy due to sheer determination. “Inventing Anna” is a testament to Anna’s adeptness at being a master manipulator in a male dominated world. It is a commentary on both the influence of capitalism on the developing mind of a young woman and the American media’s obsession with pursuing and revealing scandals. After the article is published and the public response to it has turned Anna into a meme, Vivian argues that the “real story” was to present a case study on “class, social mobility and identity under capitalism.”
During episode eight, we learn that Anna’s ultimate goal was to gain the power, money and respect of New York high society, which she grew up seeing in magazines like Vogue and Elle. Anna is a product of the recession-era American influence on the working class that, instead of adapting to reflect the financial situations of the average person, continued showing the lifestyles of the rich and famous. She was determined to break free from the influence of her misogynistic father and working class background in order to break into the old money scene of New York City — as she believed her life would not be meaningful until she did so. When Vivian tells Anna that being interviewed will give Anna what she wants, Anna asks Vivian what she thinks she wants. To this, Vivian replies, “You want to be famous.”
The show unravels Anna’s twisted web of crimes by having Vivian interview the people with whom Anna primarily associated. The use of character-specific episodes — like ones dedicated to Anna’s criminal defense attorney or the friend she stole the most money from — creates a confusing timeline of events. Through this device, though, the show manages to make some of the characters sympathetic despite how horribly they treated Anna. For example, Nora (Kate Burton), the woman Anna stays with for the majority of the show, treats Anna like an unpaid assistant by having her pick up food for parties and sign for purchases. When Vivian interviews Nora to hear how much money Anna stole from her, the show paints her as a victim, rather than someone who also used Anna.
With a stellar supporting cast that includes Laverne Cox and Arian Moayed, Garner shines as Anna. Garner fully immersed herself in her role, even managing to perfect Delvey’s unique German-Russian accent. Chlumsky, however, fails to stand out against Garner. In Clumsky’s overemphasis on her obsession with the story, she takes away any charm that she may have established. While this was meant to show Vivian’s dedication to Anna’s story, she just comes across as irresponsible.
It is surprising how biased the show is towards Anna. For example, Rachel (Katie Lowes), the woman Anna stole more than $60,000 from, is portrayed as ditzy and naive. So, when the viewer discovers that Anna stole the money from Rachel, it may feel as though it is Rachel’s fault. The show goes out of its way to push the narrative that Anna was a product of American influence and in doing so suggests that she cannot be held accountable for her actions.
While the show is flawed from the onset, with an obvious bias towards Anna and a weak performance from Chlumsky, it is still an interesting look at someone trying to break into high society. Garner’s performance sells it, showcasing every interesting twist and turn of this story and cementing Delvey’s status as a conniving girlboss of the era.