Director: Craig Gillespie
By Alex Watson
In 1994, the Tonya Harding-Nancy Kerrigan scandal brought figure skating to worldwide attention. Director Craig Gillespie brings to life how outrageous this whole incident became before the 1994 Lillehammer Olympics. I, Tonya is a mesmerizing and funny biopic of a woman whose talents were cruelly overlooked and who eventually paid a huge price in the pursuit of glory. Margot Robbie proves to be the perfect choice as Harding and in a career-best encaptures her ferocious edge.
Tonya Harding (Margot Robbie) is a talented but un-delicate figure skater who is frequently verbally and physically abused by her acid-tongued mother LaVona Golden (Allison Janney). Although she frequently skates well in competition, the judges appear to be biased against her and dismiss her as 'white trash'. Desperate for her to get the recognition she deserves, her husband Jeff Gillooly (Sebastian Stan) get his friend Shawn Eckhart (Paul Walter Hauser) to arrange an attack on her rival Nancy Kerrigan (Caitlin Carver).
There was always a larger than life aspect to the Harding-Kerrigan scandal and I, Tonya perfectly channels this. Tonya is a woman who frequently chafes under the abusive charge of her mother. From the first second, we met LaVona- she emotionally manipulates a coach into taking her. Our sympathies are never far away in this biopic. LaVona frequently throws down insults at her performances, "You skated like a graceless bull dyke. I was embarrassed for you," she tells her at one stage. Her understanding of love is completely clouded, when she first meets Jeff its gains her the independence she has so longed for. Coming off as an escape from her overbearing mother, he at first appears sweet and down to earth. Her mother for once senses this person is bad for her, "You fuck dumb, you don't marry dumb." are the words of wisdom she gives at her wedding. But when he begins to hit her, Tonya figures it must be her fault because after all, he loves her. Violence is all she knows and rather than running she tries to make it work. Being on the ice is the only place where she truly feels herself, but throughout she is denied the scores that she rightly deserves. Unlike the rest of the delicate and swanlike female skaters, Tonya is not the wholesome and All-American girl that skating wants as its poster child.
We often forget the talents that Harding possessed (she was the first ever skater to land the triple axel in competition) and Gillespie throughout shows her as a lost prodigy. The sequences of her dancing on ice are among the most memorable of the movie and show she had the right stuff to succeed. Her explosive and unconventional style never goes down well. Harding often danced to rock music like 'Sleeping Bag' by ZZ Top which was widely frowned upon by judges. Also, she had the same sharp tongue as LaVona and in one scene she aggressively tells a judge to 'SUCK MY DICK' after against being poorly scored. The irony in this movie is that when she finally achieves the fame she craves, it brings her the wrong kind of notoriety. Gillespie is careful not to give much light as to how much involvement Harding may or may not have had in the incident. The attack itself brings us one of the most hilarious characters of the piece. Shawn Eckhardt and his crew of bumbling morons think they are performing the most well-executed crime of the 90's. Eckhardt is an overweight, dumb slob whose big mouth gets them into a lot of trouble.
The attack on Kerrigan only takes up a moment of the film itself, but the repercussions are huge. Frequently and always unfavorably compared to the graceful and well dressed Kerrigan, Jeff sees her as a threat. After she is whacked on the knee, Tonya is thrust into the spotlight. Quickly the crew who organized it crumbles after some seriously poor planning and Tonya becomes a love/hate figure to the US public. During this final act of I, Tonya her downfall is truly distressing as she ends up losing it all in her quest for Olympic gold. Harding has never been able to break free of the stigma of this controversy and Gillespie excellently shows the press hysteria that surrounded her. Unable to go outside her apartment and wilting under intense scrutiny, Harding was a competitor who ended up being shafted. Watching her struggle through her routine at Lillehammer is crushing and you get the sense that a fair outcome was never guaranteed. This picture plays on the aspect that Harding felt like she needed to play the villain to the American public. As she says tell us "America, they want someone to love but they want someone to hate, and the haters always say 'Tonya, tell the truth!' There's no such thing as truth. I mean, it's bullshit!"
Margot Robbie on paper looks a world away from the ugly ducking quality of Tonya Harding. However, this is all irrelevant because there are few actresses who could have captured the tortured inner soul of this person. Robbie channels her rage and insecurity at the world and her desire to be loved. Her talents have been obvious ever since her show-stealing turn in The Wolf of Wall Street, Robbie is now a serious contender for awards season. Allison Janney is also a revelation and the foul-mouthed, chain-smoking LaVona. Frequently browbeating and assaulting her daughter, Janney plays a woman bitter at the world but is determined to help her daughter win at all costs. Paul Walter Hauser nearly steals supporting honors as the incredibly dumb wannabe crime master Eckhardt. Unable to keep his mouth shut and recruiting some equally brainless cronies, Hauser has any number of quotable lines.
I, Tonya is the kind of picture that sheds a new light on Tonya Harding altogether. A woman denied the fame she deserved, Gillespie's picture is a swansong to a tale that will always be in the public's mind.
