Martha Stewart, an American icon | The perfect behind the scenes

“Perfect” is a word that we will hear often in this documentary dedicated to the queen of the art of living. Featured on Netflix, Martha Stewart, an American icon opens a door to an impeccably polished universe. However, it is behind the scenes, where the varnish is cracking, that the documentary is interested, by presenting us with the rise, fall and rebounds of an eternal fighter.

Martha Stewart, 83, left her mark on popular culture. Educator of the art of living, influencer well before her time, she was the first to create a galaxy of products and content revolving around a person. We have been hearing about her for 50 years, the documentary recalls. And these five decades will have been worthy of an American soap opera.

It is thanks to a keen sense of beauty and goodness, and a tireless quest for excellence, that Martha Stewart rose through the ranks. “I don’t like avoidance, waste, incompetence, aprons, lack of patience and attention to detail…”, lists today’s Martha Stewart, when asked to talk about which irritates him. The list is long.

Workaholic, demanding, even intransigent, the goddess of the art of living does not always have the delicacy of her creations, we see. On the other hand, she applies the same ardor to plowing her garden as to leading her troops, entirely devoted to a mission of perfection which has made her one of the richest and most powerful women on the planet.

Feminist regression or advance?

The Martha Stewart phenomenon is divisive, this production reveals. Feminist for some, a nuisance to progressive discourse for others who criticize her for producing “pornography for housewives”, the lady does not leave anyone indifferent.

By reviving “handmade” and raising the standards surrounding the domestic world, Martha Stewart also raised expectations and pressure to perform, according to her critics.

She describes herself as a modern feminist and counters that she has instead shown a rich and uninhibited face of domestic arts, in which the woman is not submissive to her environment, but in control.

Far from the classic role of the housewife, she herself proves more accomplished in business than in her personal life. Raised in the rigor imposed by a demanding father, inspired by a mother who was a fine cook, Martha Stewart observed and absorbed. A model to support her family and an arts student, she married the wealthy Andy Stewart at 19 and became a mother, which she describes as the beginning of her life. However, she struggles to find happiness in motherhood.

In 1968, she got a job on Wall Street, where women’s restrooms were still non-existent, and earned $250,000 a year. A mistake on her part, however, leads to professional burnout. She moves to Connecticut where a dilapidated farm awaits her, which she renovates from top to bottom, then sets out to become the perfect hostess. “It’s this property that has made me who I am,” she says. Martha Stewart was thus born.

Gifted for the art of living and entertaining, she founded her catering service and turned it into a thriving business. The result is a book, a television show, a range of products and magazines. Now divorced, she throws herself body and soul into work and builds her empire. Martha Stewart inc. is based on a single woman, omnipresent and omnipotent, whose traditionally feminine universe will soon be listed on the stock exchange.

The one we love to hate

Martha Stewart inc. is a story of female power that fascinates as much as its five-star henhouses. Powerful, strong-willed and ambitious, the goddess of the art of living is hated and jealous, as much as admired.

Suspected of insider trading, she was sentenced to five months in prison in the early 2000s. This scandal raised doubts about her real guilt. Some, including the main interested party, see it as a “witch hunt” and an unhealthy pleasure in seeing a “miss perfect” fail or an attempt to discredit the country’s first female billionaire.

“I have been described as an authoritarian, strict, demanding woman and other qualities that make one successful in life,” says the woman who is far from always presented in a sympathetic light in this documentary. She answers “guilty” on these points, while raising the question: would a businessman have been accused of the same things?

Martha Stewart lost a large part of her fortune in this debacle which left an indelible mark on her image, which went from divine to mortal.

Upon her release, she recovered from her fall by relying on self-deprecation: she hosted shows where she appeared relaxed, collaborated with the rapper Snoop Dogg and became the first sexy grandmother on the cover of Sports Illustrated. Martha Stewart, better than anyone, masters the codes of social networks. Unsurprisingly, she was able to rise from her ashes, but we sense a bit of bitterness in her. “The question is not whether perfection is accessible,” mentions one of the speakers, “but at what price? »

Although fascinating, the sovereign of the art of living is also that of this production which only makes room for others in voiceover. The choice of illustrations to depict certain moments is also annoying, but we will not miss the opportunity to learn more about the behind the scenes surrounding this exceptional woman.

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