How can a con artist pull the wool over so many peoples’ eyes? How do you trick a bank into loaning money, or funding your project with absolutely no proof of collateral? Inventing Anna is based on a true story, and it tells the sordid tale of Anna Delvey and her genius talent of bilking the filthy rich.
Inventing Anna
One of my Twitter friends had mentioned the Netflix series to me. I am so happy that she did. Inventing Anna is an American drama that was created and produced by Shonda Rhimes. The limited series was inspired by a true story in the New York article on Anna Sorokin/Anna Delvey. The article was written by Jessica Pressler. You may want to check out this article after watching the Netflix series.
The series stars Anna Chlumsky, Julia Garner, Laverne Cox, Katie Lowes, Arian Moayed, Alexis Floyd, Anthony Edwards, and Anders Holm. Who is Anna Delvey aka Anna Sorokin, and how did she encourage people to part with their money so eagerly? Anna shows up at New York’s high society circles with nothing more than a non-descript accent and great expensive wardrobes. She tells everyone that she is a German heiress with a large trust fund that will soon be available to her.
I watched the entire series in shock at the ease in which Anna was able to bilk hundreds of thousands of dollars from the rich. She had connections, that is for sure, but those connections were also tricked and tempted by the supposedly huge trust fund.
Julia Garner is hypnotizing in her portrayal of Anna. She plays her Anna in an almost robotic manner: cold, calculating, self-centered to the point of criminality…and yet her marks (suckers) trip over each other to be fleeced. Even the banks are victims. Everything is going good until she hurts too many friends and winds up in prison in 2017 for various counts of larceny and other crimes. Anna is found guilty of eight charges and was sentenced to four to twelve years in 2019, but was released on parole in February of 2021.
Anna Chlumsky is just as fabulous in her role as Vivian Kent (based on journalist Jessica Pressler). Vivian, although extremely pregnant, makes friends with the imprisoned Anna to get her story. We also get to learn the real story about Anna Sorokin and her family.
Conclusion
Inventing Anna is a character study of the rich and famous, and even a reminder for us poor suckers on how easily people fall under the spell of a con artist. After all, didn’t America fall under the spell of the biggest con artist in the world…Trump? And, frighteningly, enough there are still people who want to vote for him again in 2024.
Anna Sorokin left behind a trail of losers. But I blame them more than Anna. They were too busy looking at the money, and completely missed all the warning signals. The banks along with the rich and famous hooked up with what they though was a yacht…only to find themselves in a leaking rowboat.
The story is true and Inventing Anna on Netflix series is fabulous.
