Review of “Inventing Anna”: the Story of a Farce

In recent years, Netflix has shown an excellent ability to turn true stories into productions that immediately capture the attention of the public, whether as documentaries, movies or series. Some representative examples are “The Tinder Swindler” or “Tiger King”. The most recent success of the platform in this sense is the series “Inventing Anna”, a title inspired by the real case of Anna Sorokin, a twenty-year-old who made the most select of New York high society believe that she was Anna Delvey, the heir to a millionaire German businessman. In this way, she started a plan with which she managed to defraud banks, luxury hotels and important New York businessmen.

“Inventing Anna” is inspired by a famous article by Jessica Pressler, who is portrayed in the series as Vivian Kent. In the production we follow this journalist on her odyssey to try to discover who Anna Delvey really is and the tricks she will use to achieve her goals. Thus, both Anna Sorokin and the reporter Vivian Kent are the two fundamental axes of the story.

The series is produced by Shonda Rhimes, responsible for successful series such as “Grey’s Anatomy” and “Bridgerton”. Julia Garner (“Ozark”) and Anna Chlumsky (“Veep”) star.

Discovering Anna Delvey

The story combines money, luxury and ingenuity. At the age of 25, with no real assets, she had managed to create a life that included travel, expensive dinnersluxury hotels, and acceptance into New York high society. Knowing the power of influence in high society, Anna not only managed to convince everyone that she was a young woman with a great fortune, but also that she had a visionary business proposal. Thus, she managed to capture the attention of big businessmen and important banks in New York.

The production begins with the imprisonment of Sorokin and with the reporter Vivian Kent sensing that an incredible story is hidden behind this character. Throughout nine chapters we follow Vivian’s adventures to unravel Anna’s case, and understand the mentality of this skillful swindler.

“Inventing Anna” is one of those series that improve chapter by chapter. The script makes the viewer feel more and more involved in the story. The intensity of her narrative builds as Anna Delvey and the scope of her actions are unraveled on screen.

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“This whole story is totally true. Except for the parts that were completely made up.” This phrase that appears at the beginning of each chapter makes clear the intentions of the production. It does not seek to make a step-by-step reconstruction of the events surrounding Anna, but instead takes certain narrative liberties. One of the most notorious aspects would be the character of Vivian Kent, inspired by the journalist Jessica Pressler, from whom she takes several real elements and adds other fictitious ones. Some names of people and places were also changed. However, the core elements of Sorokin’s case, and those that are most spectacular, such as the bank fraud, her long stay in luxury hotels or what could be considered the theft of a private plane, are absolutely true.

More productions on Anna Delvey

Since her imprisonment in 2017, Anna Delvey has emerged as a controversial figure who has attracted quite a bit of interest. Many articles have been dedicated to her. In social networks there are both detractors, as well as people who support and idealize her. The series premiere, which has been well received, has revived media interest in Sorokin.

This will not be the only production that will revolve around Anna’s story. As reported by the Deadline medium, Bunim/Murray Productions would have allied with Sorokin for the making of a docuseries that will explore her life after the events depicted in the Netflix series. For its part, HBO has acquired the rights to the book “My Friend Anna: The True Story of a Fake Heiress”, written by Rachel DeLoache Williams, who was a close friend of Anna and also one of her victims.

Where is Anna now?

In 2019 Anna Sorokin was sentenced to four to twelve years in prison for multiple charges of theft and robbery. In February 2021, she was released after serving almost four years of her sentence. Weeks later, she would be detained by the United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement Service for having exceeded the duration of her visa. Currently, she is facing possible deportation, but she is doing all the necessary steps to prevent it.

“Inventing Anna”, in short, is an attractive series that catches and entertains, but above all, invites you to find out more about the incredible case of the false German heiress who made fools of great figures in the world of business and high society.