The Staircase (2022)
The Staircase (2022)
Tells the story of Michael Peterson, a crime novelist accused of killing his wife Kathleen after she is found dead at the bottom of a staircase in their home, and the 16-year judicial battle that followed.
Kevin Ward reviewedJuly 7, 2025
Extremely well acted (obvi) with cast that includes Colin Firth, Toni Collette, Michael Stuhlbarg, Juliette Binoche, Parker Posey, Sophie Turner (etc. etc). It has some intriguing moments along the way, but when it was all over I couldn’t quite find the purpose in it all. Attention is focused predominantly on Michael (Firth) but we’re not really brought to full resolution on his story—did he, or didn’t he? More interesting would have been a focus on his family and their coping with that uncertainty. We get some of that but so much more of the time is devoted to Michael himself.
If you want to see Toni Collette die the same gruesome death in 3 or 4 different ways, then I could recommend it. In all other cases, it’s definitely a good watch but not appointment viewing.