“Love & Rage: Munroe Bergdorf” (2025) is a documentary about the British model and activist preceding the publication of her book, “Talk to Me.” It feels less like an autobiographical documentary than an extended, gorgeous, glossy confessional pilot for a future reality series, genre defying autofiction drama series or one of those engrossing informercials that you get sucked into even though you know that the commercial will never give you the information that they keep promising to deliver, but you want to see how long they can stretch it out before calling it quits.
Who is Munroe Bergdorf? The main motivation for watching “Love & Rage: Munroe Bergdorf” is to answer that question. Normally biographical documentaries convey basic information. To tell Bergdorf’s story from her perspective, this one uses lyrical imagery such as water to symbolize rebirth and recreation of historical events, a narrative device often used in documentaries about true crime or investigative pieces, but also used in biographies, including about trans people such as “Framing Agnes” (2022). Basic information that would be pertinent to an outsider is missing such as what is the significance of her name, how did she get it, when and where was she born, who are her parents, does she have siblings, where did she grow up. To be fair, in one on screen scene while talking to her mom on her cellphone, it is strongly implied that her birth family did not agree to participate in the documentary, but lack of consent should not be conflated with Bergdorf not being able to tell the story in a basic way. Instead, it becomes a story of being at home in her body since she was assigned male at birth. It is more of a cultural context of the era of her childhood, a time when being Black, trans and anything but heterosexual was not only unacceptable, but a matter of explicit derision then moving forward to show how she became herself without any details or broader context.
One challenge of making a documentary about a famous person is getting and keeping access to that person. It means sacrificing a certain amount of creative autonomy and putting the filmmaker in the service of telling that person’s story. If the subject is not a filmmaker, it is not the subject’s job to know what a documentary should look like then make conscious decisions to adhere or break the genre’s rules. Sometimes the tension between the creative and commercial is palpable, but unlike “Westwood: Punk, Icon, Activist” (2018), there are zero signs that it ever occurred to the filmmaker that audiences may like to know more about the logistics and texture of arriving in London from humbler roots, becoming a model and snagging big deals before Bergdorf loses them. Director Olivia Cappuccini seems comfortable with this arrangement, and if it was revealed that the concept came first and Cappuccini was hired afterwards, it would make complete sense. It is as if it never occurred to anyone that some people are unfamiliar with Bergdorf and in addition to wanting to know about her struggles of being different and in the limelight, we would also want the traditional, dishy beats about an up-and-coming model making it in a competitive business or becoming a cohost on a famous talk show.
Instead “Love & Rage: Munroe Bergdorf” is a glorified clip show with occasional, exclusive behind the scenes peek at her home life, chilling with her friends, and her activities en route to a multitude of media appearances. The viewing experience is like being part of her entourage, which is entertaining and the reason that Bergdorf is ideal for a reality televisions series. Who does not want to watch a gorgeous person hang out with other beautiful people on the town getting honored luxurious night after night then daytime parades with adoring fans. Only one friend is named, Reece King, and though King’s last name is not writ large on screen, he gets a brief montage to reflect that he is a big name in his own right as a model and dancer. Their interactions are the heart of the film, and when he calls her sister, it makes sense that he would be the only family that Bergdorf needs.
Fortunately, unlike “Prime Minister” (2025) and “State of Firsts” (2025), if you are unfamiliar with British media, the archival footage featured in “Love & Rage: Munroe Bergdorf” will be new to you, and it is easy to forget that British media makes the US seem genteel in comparison. Interestingly Bergdorf initially felt that she was in a golden era of transpeople being represented with “Orange is the New Black,” “Transparent”, and US Congressional Representative Sarah McBride’s speech at the Democratic National Convention so roughly a decade, and that estimate is generous. All the recent British court rulings against transgender women’s rights make retroactive sense given the coarse hostility to her face captured forever in archival footage. There are also references to high profile crimes against trans and/or queer people to illustrate how perilous life could for Bergdorf if she was not famous, but there is an assumption that the audience will know of Steven Lawrence. Brianna Ghey, a trans girl, gets more of an introduction. Two teens decided to kill her and discussed Ghey as if she was an object. Outside of the movie, if you glance at reviews for this film, one vile review deadnames and misgenders Bergdorf so the agenda was to deliberately troll her, not critique the film. Imagine watching an eighty-two-minute documentary about anyone who repulses you before the lights go down. It takes hate watching to a whole new level, and not one that seems good-natured or fun.
To help Bergdorf navigate the treacherous waters of media beating Bergdorf to and from on the rocks of public opinion, “Love & Rage: Munroe Bergdorf” shows Justin and Kim coming to her rescue. Who? You will need Google for that information because apparently the documentary thought that the duo rose to the level of Cher and Beyonce, but alas, not here in the US. No, Kim is not a Kardashian. Justin Girdler is the cofounder, CEO and talent manager of Diving Bell, a talent management company. Kim Butler is a cofounder, director and talent manager of Diving Bell and Digital Creators Association Secretary. Apparently Diving Bell is trying to increase diversity, and Munroe was the first celebrity that they signed around eight years ago. While the documentary shows them talking about their motivation and professional relationship, it would have been nice to show how they turned around Munroe’s free fall plummet in popularity during 2017 to her return to center stage now. Too much telling, not enough showing. How did Girdler and Butler meet? Why did they elect to do this kind of work?
“Love & Rage: Munroe Bergdorf” will definitely leave you wanting to know more about Bergdorf since so much is left out, which makes it the perfect promotional video to get people to buy her book. As a pilot for a reality television series, it is a terrific teaser to get viewers interested in following her and her friends around like a day in the life series so ordinary people can live vicariously through her. “I Am Cait” had home audiences in a stranglehold until Caitlyn Jenner came out as terminally self-sabotaging on the political stage thus ruining the chance of a lifetime: to use someone’s preexisting fame to enter people’s homes and have a transperson be the neighbor next door. In a series, Bergdorf can be freed from talking about the past and be her engaging self in the moment, which is when this documentary shines.
