Sky
The Clinton conundrum An emotional new film provides a fresh take on the polarising figure of Hillary Clinton. Caroline Frost spoke to its director, Nanette Burstein
‘B
ill came early one morning into the bedroom. He sat on the side of the bed and he said, I have to tell you something…” is how Hillary Clinton begins her excruciating personal recollection of one of the most scandalous episodes in American history, when her husband, the President, admitted to having an affair with a White House intern. Telling her side of the story, the former First Lady remains as articulate, wry and composed as she does during the rest of the four-hour documentary series Hillary, charting her extraordinary path through public and private life over the past four decades. In fact, the only time she visibly cracks is when she recalls their daughter, Chelsea, then 18 years old and in front of the world’s press, taking her traumatised parents by the hand and walking between them to a waiting
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helicopter on the White House lawn, back in 1998. With a catch in her voice, Clinton recounts: “Chelsea put herself between us and held both our hands. That was not anything other than her just trying to keep us together. When she did that, I thought, ‘That is just so incredible, so strong and so wise.’” Such intimate recollections are testament to the rapport created with her subject by the series director Nanette Burstein, who conducted 35 hours of interviews for her documentary, shown by Sky Documentaries and Now TV from 11 June. The film premiered at this year’s Sundance Film Festival, where it had some of the audience in tears. In March, Hillary debuted on Hulu in the US. Vanity Fair described the documentary as “enraging and essential”. Burstein, Oscar-nominated for her low-budget film On the Ropes, which follows three young boxers and their
trainer, says: “Her husband’s infidelity was definitely the most personally challenging part for her, to sit down and discuss openly about how she felt and how she dealt with it. After 30 years, it’s still emotionally fraught.” More watching through fingers is required when Bill Clinton shares his own memories of this incident, as well as other key moments of their joint history. Of that time, he reflects, “We all bring our baggage to life and sometimes we do things we shouldn’t do. I have no defence. It’s inexcusable what I did.” Burstein explains: “They’ve never sat down for these kinds of interviews before, so it was an amazing opportunity. It was essential for me that he was involved because he’s been her partner her entire adult life, she has influenced him as he has influenced her. I couldn’t tell her story without his perspective – the good, the bad and the ugly of it.”
