Summarize this content to 2000 words in 6 paragraphs in Arabic Unlock the Editor’s Digest for freeRoula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter.In the early 2010s, a twentysomething Australian named Belle Gibson built a huge online following and a lucrative wellness business after claiming to have treated her malignant brain cancer through natural remedies. It was only once her “healthy eating” recipe app The Whole Pantry became a chart-topping success that a rather significant detail in Gibson’s uplifting and easily marketable tale came to light. She was not, as it turned out, a cancer survivor. Instead, she was a pathological liar.That true story of deception is now the inspiration for a Netflix drama. Apple Cider Vinegar is the latest slick show about high-profile millennial grifters, after Inventing Anna, The Dropout and WeCrashed. The six-part series examines how a woman’s desperate search for status and sympathy became a cynical, far-reaching con. One that not only tricked people out of money — Gibson siphoned off $300k of charitable donations for herself — but sold false hope that it was possible to heal yourself.The show is a character study of an unrepentant narcissist and an examination of the online misinformation and medical scepticism that allowed her to prosper. It draws on a superb lead performance by American actor Kaitlyn Dever, who manages to tap into something real while playing someone who lived out a sick fantasy. Lying may come easily to Belle but Dever and series creator Samantha Strauss show her struggle to connect with people and how much envy and unhappiness festers beneath the glib platitudes and psychobabble.Intercut with the main narrative are two subplots. One follows another Australian wellness guru called Milla (Alycia Debnam-Carey). A fictionalised version of the late influencer Jessica Ainscough, Milla embraces pseudoscientific therapies after being diagnosed with a rare cancer and inspires Belle’s persona. The other thread centres on Lucy (Tilda Cobham-Hervey), a follower of Belle’s, who starts questioning her cancer treatment, much to her partner’s anguish.These stories provide a useful context for Belle’s lies and further highlight the harm wrought by unproven alternative medicine. But the series can feel like it is tying itself in knots as it tries to weave together three plots and as many timelines in each episode. There are also some strange shifts in tone as Apple Cider Vinegar veers from semi-satirical to tragic, and from straight drama to the winkingly stylised. The result is a series that is never quite as sharp as its namesake.★★★☆☆On Netflix from February 6
