As "Ghislaine Maxwell: Filthy Rich" (2022 release; 101 min) opens, it is "August 10, 2019" and Jeffrey Epstein has just committed suicide while in jail. The immediate question: where is Ghislaine Maxwell? 18 (!) months later, she is found in New Hampshire and immediately arrested on multiple criminal charges. At this point we are less than 10 min into the movie.
Couple of comments: this is a sequel or companion release to 2020's "Jeffrey Epstein: Filthy Rich", which I have not seen (I really don't want to know any more about that guy than I do). But when the same film makers announced this project, my interest was a little peaked: what had possessed this woman, at one time Epstein's partner, to become a relentless recruiter and groomer of young (many underage) girls to provide to Epstein? This film goes into that issue at length and offers some possible explanations. Along the way, we also hear from several of the victims themselves, and why events some of which happened as long ago as 25 years continue to haunt them. Most tellingly for me are also a number of Maxwell's acquaintances from back in the day, and the bizarre behavior she showed even then. Several of the victims state that Maxwell was in fact worse than Epstein. Most importantly, one of the victims, when asked her reaction after Maxwell's conviction, observes: "We've finally been heard". Very true. How is it that these terrible people were able to do what they did for DECADES, despite the numerous complains by the victims as early as the mid/late 1990s? Just shocking. Bottom line: this documentary provides a very sobering, if not outright shocking, look at a socialite who decides to become a child trafficker, all to please her (ex) partner...
"Ghislaine Maxwell: Filthy Rich" premiered on Netflix this weekend. If you have any interest in learning why a woman of means decides to become a child trafficker and groomer, I'd readily suggest you check this out, and draw your own conclusion.