Review

  • Warning: Spoilers
    Where and when does a so-called "controversial spiritual teacher and her dedicated followers" cross some real or imagined line and become a "charismatic cult leader and her delusional inner circle"? That's one of the primary questions that this four-part documentary series (and the P. I. that we meet along the way) are grasping for answers to. The other main question has to do with whether "Teal Swan" (not her real name) is actively advocating and/or openly encouraging psychologically damaged people to commit suicide. A lot of the IMDB reviewers seem to so thoroughly dislike her personality that they downgrade the series itself, which seems unfair. Good documentarians will stay silent, as they do here, to let the subject(s) and/or subject matter speak uninterrupted (or even unedited) at some length for him-/her-/itself. And that also means often indicting themselves in their own words. I don't know if Teal thought the investigation or documentary about it would serve to exonerate her for being a cult leader or suicide enabler, but if so, she's more naive than she appears to be. One conclusion does seem inescapable: she *IS* a world-class narcissist, and that is frequently a personality trait/psychological diagnosis of the aforementioned "charismatic cult leaders." 7/10.