The spotlight can be unforgiving — we live in a culture where society loves to elevate celebrities only to tear them down for the sheer thrill of doing so. In Netflix‘s newest docuseries, “Victoria Beckham,” helmed by “Becoming” filmmaker Nadia Hallgren, audiences get an intimate look at the former pop star and fashion designer. At one point, Beckham was one of the most photographed women in the world, but she has since worked to reclaim her name and identity outside of the shadow of her footballer husband, David Beckham. A short yet intriguing series about growth, self-acceptance and determination, the docuseries explores evolution and what it means to truly be yourself.
“Victoria Beckham” opens in late summer 2024. Beckham has been at the helm of her fashion brand for nearly two decades, but it has not been a smooth ride. Hearing from Beckham herself as well as legendary figures like Anna Wintour, Tom Ford, Donatella Versace and Beckham’s mentor, Roland Mouret, Hallgren offers a portrait of a woman who, though once famous in her own right, was relegated to the role of a sports wife and fashionista before breaking into a very volatile and unforgiving industry. Although Beckham’s penchant for style and design enabled her to build her brand, her business acumen was not up to par, resulting in significant financial mismanagement. As the series opens, Beckham is ready for a fresh start. Having climbed out of the red with a complete restructuring, proper funding and a powerhouse beauty brand, she and her team are preparing for Paris Fashion Week and the biggest and most ambitious presentation they have ever put on.
While “Victoria Beckham” primarily revolves around Beckham’s business and the preparation for the fashion show, it also briefly highlights her childhood and subsequent time in the Spice Girls. The experience, she says, changed her life, and solidified her confidence for a time. Although she briefly touches on the group’s initial breakup and eventual revival, her time as Posh Spice and her current relationships with her former bandmates aren’t truly addressed. When it comes to Beckham’s personal life, outside of her parents, husband and children, audiences hear onlyfrom her close friend, actress Eva Longoria. Instead, the series focuses on the end of Beckham’s pop career and the years that followed. Feeling lost, and putting her career on the back-burner to support her husband’s dreams and raise their children, led to a fracture in her identity, eventually prompting her to begin building a fashion house.
Beckham’s ability in the fifth decade of her life to be honest and self-reflective is compelling. Our patriarchal society says beautiful women with families and wealth should feel lucky. The pop icon offers a different perspective. She is frank about harboring ambitions beyond being a wife and mother, and how her unhappiness was outwardly manifested during her years as a WAG. People often don’t consider how young the Beckhams were during their heyday, trying to build a relationship in the public eye. Now, 27 years later, the series showcases a couple who are still deeply committed, connected, and refreshingly considerate of one another. It’s a rarity in normie relationships, even more so among A-listers.
The three-episode series serves as a companion piece to Netflix’s 2023 docuseries “Beckham,” which focused on the designer’s soccer sensation husband. Though Hallgren gets unprecedented access to Beckham, and she does confront some of the heavier aspects of her story, including an eating disorder, as well as the reasons her brand nearly tanked, she avoids delving further into details, remaining instead on the fringes of these discussions. Having previously lived under the microscope at earlier stages of her life, the self-proclaimed control freak is now entirely in command of her narrative.
Still, “Victoria Beckham” is highly effective in illuminating the reign of misogyny and sexism that Beckham (and her contemporaries) endured in the press, especially in the early 2000s, when the paparazzi were out of control and tabloid fodder was catnip to the public. It was a relentless scrutiny that Beckham found unbearable, and continues to taunt her even today.
Love Film & TV?
Get your daily dose of everything happening in music, film and TV in Australia and abroad.
Ultimately, “Victoria Beckham” may not deliver exactly what audiences expect when they tune in initially. However, the narrative presented is far more thoughtful than the standard celebrity docuseries. The show allows Beckham to tell us who she is on her terms, which, even amid all of her accolades and privilege, is a formidable undertaking.
“Victoria Beckham” is now available to stream on Netflix.
From Variety US