Tonya Harding is better known as a cult figure with a notorious following than for her success in competitive figure skating. Harding’s life, background and career have been widely referenced in popular culture as the subject of many films, television programmes, political campaigns and academic studies. She was the first American to successfully land a triple axel in competition, a record victory that hasn’t been repeated since. And then there was the ‘incident’ that catapulted into an international media frenzy. Just after Harding established herself as a major contender at the 1994 Winter Olympics, her vengeful ex-husband orchestrated a brutal attack on fellow US competitor Nancy Kerrigan, which left her career in jeopardy. Harding’s alleged involvement and attempts to conceal her prior knowledge of the attack led to a life ban from competitive figure skating. Directed by Craig Gillespie, ‘I, Tonya’ traces Harding’s dysfunctional home life, her struggle to be marked fairly by the classist judges, the incident and its aftermath, and her hanging up her ice boots to become a boxer. Anchored by a ferociously unstoppable performance by Margot Robbie as Harding, the film is uncompromising in its violence, but hilarious in its sardonic wit that it just about gets away with it.
The film takes the formulaic style of a mockumentary, alternating between 90s-set interviews with Harding and those closely associated with her, and her early struggles to gain recognition in the nauseatingly cliquey world of competitive figure skating. Alongside her struggles in her professional life, Harding battles unjust obstacles in her personal life too, from her mother’s kitchen knife to her husband’s fists. The film is an enjoyable, but somewhat muddled experience as I couldn’t quite decide whether it intends to treat Harding with sympathy or blatantly poke fun at her humble origins. I found the kaleidoscopic narrative off-putting as the accounts of Harding’s childhood, marriage and the incident are so contradictory (in the writers’ own words) to the extent that we as viewers can’t always take in what’s happening. True, ‘I, Tonya’ is not an overdone piece of Oscar bait boasting the tagline, ‘the incredible true story behind Tonya Harding’, nor does it attempt to get to the bottom of its true source in the style of Agatha Christie either. We will never know what really went on between Harding and the gormless crooks in charge of ‘threatening’ Kerrigan, but that’s not the point. The general chaos running through reflects the unbelievable craziness of Harding’s life, even if it’s not always easy to take in.
The writers handle the subject of domestic abuse with the delicacy of a sledgehammer, perhaps to convey both Harding’s domestic situations as more shocking through a sardonic approach. The horrific nature of the beatings is often undercut by someone pausing to directly address viewers and say this never happened. After what feels like countless times of being accustomed to this breaking the fourth wall technique, we have no idea what’s meant to be true and what isn’t, so we become desensitized to Harding’s suffering by the end. Are we supposed to root for her or partake in ridiculing her in the same way America did? Regardless of what approach we choose to go with, the very fact that Tonya Harding is a fighter is reinforced throughout. Had the film been released a different year, Margot Robbie would have been crowned best leading actress at the Oscars. Robbie is excellently badass in embracing the frizzy-haired tomboy image that made Harding stand out in an industry that enforces dainty femininity. The Harding we see is scrappy, foulmouthed and refuses to play by the rules. The scene where she practises her performance smile while smearing garish make-up across her face is among Robbie’s best work for her silent grit and sensitivity. Allison Janney’s unforgettable turn as the abusive mother is worthy of the too-many-to-count accolades she received. Robbie and Janney make a formidable on-screen pairing, showing the twisted relationship that goes beyond the label of tough love with good intentions.
The skating sequences are crafted with elegant panning shots so that we literally sweep around Harding as she glides and jumps like a virtuoso. The ambition of Harding’s choreography is breath-taking, and we genuinely feel her elation when she defies the cynics and makes history landing the triple axel. The finished product is an ambitious hybrid of hard-hitting docudrama, wickedly black comedy and semi-biopic that’s too overpopulated with genres for its own good. Viewers are knocked about with ridiculously conflicting viewpoints in a similar way to Harding going from being beat up at home to the same in the ring. I personally would not choose to watch ‘I, Tonya’ a second time, but it’s definitely worth a watch for its fearless departure from comfortable film making territory.
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