The Apprentice (15)

In 1973, Donald Trump is vice president of the real estate company run by his father Fred Trump Sr. The Trump Organisation is facing a costly lawsuit filed by the Justice Department for discriminating against black people wanting to rent its properties. To protect his inheritance, Donald forges a Faustian pact with high-powered lawyer Roy Cohn, who takes Donald under his wing and employs dirty tactics to defuse the impending lawsuit. Donald steadily clambers up the social hierarchy in New York.

LondonNet Film Review

The Apprentice (15) Film Review from LondonNet

Shortly after headline-grabbing Donald Trump biopic The Apprentice premiered in May 2024 at the Cannes Film Festival, replete with a disclaimer that some events have been fictionalised for dramatic purposes, director Ali Abbasi received a cease-and-desist letter from former President’s legal team. Trump subsequently lambasted the film on social media as “a cheap, defamatory, and politically disgusting hatchet job.” Some commentators on the other side of America’s political spectrum criticised the film for being too soft on the Republican nominee and pulling its bloody-knuckled punches…

Scripted by American journalist Gabriel Sherman, The Apprentice is a fascinating study of corporate greed, ambition and shady political manoeuvring in the festering underbelly of the American empire against the backdrop of the emerging Aids crisis. There are comedic flashpoints but the overriding tone is deadly serious, particularly the graphic depiction of a sexual assault on wife Ivana in a Trump Tower apartment. Regardless of where rigorously documented fact ends and artistic licence begins, Abbasi’s film evokes the era with aplomb, galvanised by two powerhouse performances. Sebastian Stan’s embodiment of Trump incorporates speech patterns and mannerisms without teetering over into caricature while Jeremy Strong’s portrayal of political fixer Roy Cohn is almost reptilian in its disquieting stillness and menace.

Events unfolds initially in 1973, when Donald Trump (Stan) is vice president of the real estate company run by his father Fred Trump Sr (Martin Donovan). The Trump Organisation is facing a costly lawsuit filed by the Justice Department for discriminating against black people wanting to rent its properties. A high-profile legal ruling could sink the company and derail Donald’s lofty aspirations to join high rollers at the Le Club members-only restaurant and nightclub in Manhattan.

To protect his inheritance, Donald forges a Faustian pact with high-powered lawyer Roy Cohn (Strong), who famously operated as Senator Joseph McCarthy’s chief counsel during the anti-communist witch hunts of the 1950s. Cohn takes Donald under his wing and employs dirty tactics to defuse the impending lawsuit. Donald steadily clambers up the social hierarchy in New York, acquires a socialite wife Ivana (Maria Bakalova) and slowly turns on everyone who aided his ascent. “Good to see you lost the last trace of decency you once had,” snarls one-time mentor Roy.

The Apprentice imagines the formative years of Trump in broad, scathing and satirical stokes that sometimes draw blood. Donald’s protectiveness of his self-destructive older brother (Charlie Carrick) is a chink of vulnerability in the magnate’s armour, which is gradually concealed beneath layers of self-aggrandisement and chest-puffing bravado. A few sideswipes feel cheap like a vignette at a party with artist Andy Warhol (Bruce Beaton) and the film is overlong but Sherman’s screenplay steadfastly avoids walking along clearly defined party political lines. And for that, Abbasi’s intriguing picture gets my vote.

– Jo Planter