Yes we still like Victoria Beckham Thanks to the documentary about her life now available on Netflix

It’s not the first time the Beckham family has appeared on Netflix. In 2023, the former professional footballer and his fashion-designer wife opened the doors of their home for a four-part series that told the story of the British athlete’s life and career. In response, two years later, comes the corresponding three-episode show, this time focusing on the life and career of Victoria Beckham. One cannot have too much faith in operations of this kind. As often happens with documentaries in which the subject is involved in the production – and specifically with Netflix portraits – it always feels as though the narrative is bent in favor of the protagonist. The natural question that arises is: how far are we willing to believe it?

Born in 1974, she joined the Spice Girls at the age of twenty and has been with the man who would become her husband, the aforementioned David Beckham, for about the same amount of time. Victoria uses the medium to her advantage to tell her own version of the story, and not just the one that magazines and websites have been circulating since she first appeared in the entertainment world. The former performer has quite a few things she wants to get off her chest, and what feels real in Netflix’s construction is precisely her desire not only to reveal the truth often hidden behind the gossip, but also to express how those rumors and specific events made her feel. She does it lightly, even though some wounds will stay with her for life. Paradoxically, she jokes and laughs about the fact that she has always been considered a person who never laughs.

Beckham lets us glimpse into the personal background that led her to fame, talking about the bullying she suffered and how it affected her, and the impact of flashes and fame. She even opens up about the WAG period she firmly disowns, describing herself as more lost than any newspaper could have imagined, and admits to the eating disorder that had been a topic of discussion for years, one she had never personally addressed until now, thus taking control of it. But above all, the docuseries focuses on her leap to becoming a fashion designer, which is clearly also the reason it was made.

Netflix’s cameras go backstage at her 2024 Paris fashion show - plagued by torrential rain - but also go further back, starting from the first episode, Who Does She Think She Is?, and ultimately arriving at an answer. Victoria Beckham is, today, a recognized brand. A successful designer. She has been a pop star, a WAG, an icon who, over the past eighteen years, has seen her fashion business born, grow, fall, and rise again. And the documentary serves as a way to put a few final dots on the i’s left hanging for years. On one hand, she tries to be humble, but on the other, it’s obvious that Beckham wants to show how hard she’s worked, how much she has studied, and how creating a fashion brand was not just a whim but a calling. In the end, the documentary’s protagonist wants to show gratitude for what she has, while also reclaiming the effort and dedication she’s put in. Whether it’s genuine or not - whether her apparent down-to-earth demeanor is simply meant to counter years of gossip about her - it hardly matters. In the end, she almost becomes likable to the viewer, and even if not, she still deserves credit for her dedication.

If such leniency seems excessive for someone who chooses to use a malleable medium like a Netflix production to tell her side of the story, then the words of her life partner, David Beckham, might come in handy. It actually seems that he was the one who encouraged her to agree to make the documentary. «She’s my star,» he said during an appearance on the Today Show. «So I thought: this is the right opportunity. She’s been working on her brand for the past eighteen years. She’s incredibly diligent, but no one notices. So I convinced her to show what she does every day and what her business entails. She’s a very smart and hardworking woman, and I want people to see that.» We don’t know how many will feel like dedicating their time to the Victoria Beckham documentary, but from our side, we can tell her husband that, for us, the docuseries achieved the desired effect.