Monica Lewinsky is back! Again! A new web series—dubbed, simply, Monica by independent filmmaker Doran Max Hagay brings to life a 2001 New York magazine profile of Lewinsky’s life in Manhattan. Think of it as a reimagining of this put-upon paramour for the digital age.
The profile on which the series is based, “Monica Takes Manhattan” by Vanessa Grigoriadis, ran three years after the smoke had cleared. It painted Lewinsky as a flighty 27-year-old with a diffident acceptance of a fame she didn’t ask for, but sometimes benefits from enormously. She profits from the use of her celebrity (a phenomenon Grigoriadis calls “brand Monica”), and draws invites to many of New York’s swankiest parties. As recently as last week, Lewinsky, now 41, was grouped among the “corps d’elite” at the Vanity Fair Oscar After Party, and photographed alongside Oscar winners in famous portrait artist Mark Seliger’s Instagram studio.
In 2002, shortly after the original New York profile was released, Lewinsky agreed to take part in a documentary for HBO called Monica in Black and White. The focus of the documentary was an appearance at Cooper Union, where she sat cross-legged on the apron of a stage and answered curious but softball questions from an audience of mostly mild-mannered gawkers. She came across as sweet, embarrassed, self-reflective and entirely in charge of herself and her dignity. She seemed, well—normal.
The new web series paints Lewinsky (played by Lily Marotta) as something in between these two extremes of attention-seeker and reticent good girl. In the first two installments, she tries yoga and Magnolia cupcakes for the first time, and meets with her publicist to discuss the New York magazine profile and the documentary. Three years out, she is pulling away from the media and ready to remake herself. A la Broad City, the humor is awkward. Bizarre, maladroit moments linger—sometimes painfully, as when the yoga instructor beats on Monica’s chest in an effort to loosen her up; and sometimes poignantly, as when a stranger approaches her in the park and accuses her of ruining lives.
