Product Description

Directed by Academy Award®-winning filmmaker Jean-Xavier de Lestrade (Murder on a Sunday Morning), THE STAIRCASE is like the most suspenseful of page-turners, adding "layers of complexity until one is entirely hooked by its ambiguities and twists and turns." (Chicago Tribune) One of the most highly acclaimed documentaries in recent years, this shocking, real-life thriller follows the high-profile murder trial of North Carolina author Michael Peterson, who was arraigned in 2001 for the murder of his wife after her body is discovered lying in a pool of blood on the stairway of the couple's upscale Durham home. Did Kathleen Peterson fall down the stairs, or was it cold-blooded murder? As the mystery unravels, de Lestrade's cameras are granted unusual access to Peterson's lawyers, home, and immediate family, resulting in a gripping, inside look at a case so shocking, it is sure to leave you gasping for breath.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #8003 in DVD
• Brand: New Video
• Released on: 2005-08-30
• Rating: NR (Not Rated)
• Aspect ratio: 1.33:1
• Formats: Box set, Closed-captioned, Color, DVD, NTSC
• Original language: English
• Number of discs: 2
• Running time: 384 minutes

Amazon.com
It's Law & Order come to life as the Sundance Channel's consistently absorbing, often riveting The Staircase chronicles a sensational North Carolina murder case from the crime to the verdict. When Kathleen Peterson was found dead in her Durham, NC mansion in December '01, her husband, novelist Michael Peterson, claimed she had fallen down a narrow staircase. The authorities disagreed, and Peterson was charged with first degree murder. Thereafter, director Jean-Xavier de Lestrade and his crew were given almost unrestricted access to the defendant (who remained free on bail) and his legal team, as well as to the district attorney and the prosecution crew, albeit to a lesser extent. There are countless meetings to map out defense strategy, dozens of interviews (including many with Peterson himself; he's not an especially sympathetic character), scenes of pre-trial home life, excerpts from Court TV coverage, and so on. The filmmakers follow the prosecution investigators to Texas, where we see a body exhumed; there's even a trip to Germany to look into a previous death in which Peterson may or may not have been involved.

The result is both exhaustive and exhausting; indeed, it's not until the end of the fourth of the series' eight episodes (each is about 45 minutes long) that the actual trial begins. By then, various revelations about Peterson, ranging from surprising to unsavory to downright sordid, have proved once again that truth really is stranger than fiction. In fact, while the four-month trial is interesting, it doesn't reveal much that we don't already know. Unlike most so-called "reality" programming, The Staircase is the genuine article. That means that it lacks the constant throb of big, dramatic scenes provided by your average TV cop-courtroom show, especially as the series is well over six hours long. Still, although one might easily skip to Episode 8 to learn the outcome, there's more than enough suspense to justify watching every minute of it, and regardless of one's expectations, the announcement of the verdict is a jolting moment. Only two key elements remain unexplained: What went on in the jury room during deliberations? And did Peterson do it, or not? Only he knows, and he ain't talkin'. --Sam Graham

Review
THE STAIRCASE is a masterpiece. --The New York Times

Review
In the hands of Oscar-winning filmmaker Jean-Xavier de Lestrade, THE STAIRCASE indulges the titillation value while rising to the level of art. --The Associated Press

Customer Reviews

Fascinating but leaves out the facts
I watched the Peterson trial on Court TV in 2003, heard all the witnesses, and was convinced of Peterson's guilt. I rented this DVD the other day and watched all 6 hours compulsively. The inside look at Peterson, his defense team, and their strategy sessions was fascinating. But one huge problem: the filmmaker was so entranced by the defense case that he left out majorly important evidentiary facts. As another reviewer on this site indicated, the filmmaker left out the very evidence that the jury used to convict Peterson. Broken wineglass, his bloody footprint on her back, red neurons in her brain (indicating she'd been bleeding to death and unconscious for over 2 hours), ruptured hyaline cartilage in her throat (characteristic of attempted strangulation; not possible from a fall), blood spatter on the inner, wrong-side-out leg of his shorts, evidence that he tried to clean up the scene, and much more. Too bad for Peterson that there were 3 nurses and one clinical researcher on the jury. They weren't fooled by Henry Lee's assertion that 'there was too much blood for a beating'! Such an absurd statement.
Interestingly, in one of the DVD's 'extra' features, the filmmaker complains about how unfair the American justice system is! Well, I'm complaining about how unfair this film is! I give it 4 stars because it was well done and I couldn't stop watching. But don't be taken in by this piece of propaganda. The real evidence against Peterson was overwhelming.

Incredible Journey of an American Family
I originally saw this documentary on The Sundance Channel when it first aired earlier this year. (2005) I have been waiting for the DVD to come out so I could purchase it. This is one of the most exciting, riviting, and extraordinary documentaries I have seen in my 63 years. Jacqueline Pooks music is haunting and mesmerizing. Every character in the Michael Peterson trial is fleshed out and sympathetic in their own way. Even Michael Peterson, who seems lost from the first frame. A man who lives in his own world or appears to. The two daughters who stood by him (one did not) are either in profound denial of their father's life or lives, or he is innocent, as they so strongly believe. The murder case from day one to the end of the trial and verdict are covered meticulously. This French film team did a splendiferous job. It is on The Sundance Channel again this week and, once again, I am watching it as if I have never seen it before. I have ordered the DVD and cannot wait for it to arrive so I can view it whenever I like. I plan to have a dinner party soon so that all of my friends who have not seen it can watch it with me. This film is all they have heard me talk about all year. So glad it's finally out! Please do yourself a favor and buy it. You will not regret it.

Riveting? Yes. Skewed? FOR SURE!
What kind of trial documentary do you get when the defense in the case puts up the money to fund the documentary? The kind that doesn't want to bite the hand that feeds it.

I recently watched this and was intrigued enough to look further into the case.(You can look up the entire transcripts on court tv's web site)

Why so little coverage of the testimony of the fact that the family was having severe money problems and that Michael was pulling money from his wifes accounts leading up to the murder? Why not show more than just a tiny bit of the testimonies of the states experts? What about the testimony of the neuropathologist who determined that the victim lay bleeding to death for "several hours"? Go read the transcripts yourself and I think you'll agree. This thing was an open and shut case.