Director's Cut: Stained

 

Stained - Director's Cut

Genre: Biography/Political

Director: Craig Gillespie

Writer: Lon Charles

Cast: Matthew McConaughey, Bel Powley, Naomi Watts, Allison Tolman, Paul Giamatti, Hank Azaria, Lindy Booth, Sophia Lillis, Mary Kay Place, Mandy Patinkin, Andre Braugher

Plot: With her parents' connections, Monica Lewinsky (Bel Powley) moves to Washington DC for an unpaid internship at the White House under the hard ass Chief of Staff, Leon Panetta (Hank Azaria). Panetta takes her in for a meeting in the Oval Office with President Bill Clinton (Matthew McConaughey) to take notes. Lewinsky is awe-struck by not only getting to meet the President, but also getting to spend time in the Oval Office. Throughout the meeting Clinton interupts the subject at hand and asks Lewinsky questions about herself. Lewinsky is clearly flattered, but Panetta does his best to keep the meeting on track. After the meeting, Panetta walks off, but Clinton tells Lewinsky that he's having some lunch brought up and invites her to stay and eat with him. Clinton asks Lewinsky if she's single, and she tells him that she just moved to DC and hasn't had time to meet anyone yet. Clinton opens a Styrofoam container of fried chicken under his desk, offering her a drumstick. A tabloid with a headline about a supposed “Clinton love child” sits on the desk, which he casually uses as a napkin. 

Before his next meeting with Panetta, Clinton asks him to bring Lewinsky along. After the meeting, Clinton locks the door to the Oval Office and sits on the couch next to Lewinsky. He puts his hand on her leg and she kisses him. They begin making out, and Clinton ends up masturbating Lewinsky with a cigar case. Afterward, Clinton stresses to Lewinsky that she can't tell anyone about what happened. She agrees and asks when she can see him again. Not long after, Lewinsky is promoted to a paid position with the White House Office of Legislative Affairs. Lewinsky and Clinton continue their affair, even though Panetta and her other superiors are suspicious of how much time she is spending with the president. Bill, amused, teases Monica about being more reliable than half his Cabinet. Monica beams, mistaking the joke for flattery. Panetta walks by the Oval Office repeatedly, muttering “Jesus Christ” every time he sees Lewinsky’s shoes outside the door. Other staffers smirk and whisper that she seems to have her own private pass to the Oval Office. Monica, oblivious, takes the whispers as proof she’s special.

Clinton is in the Oval Office with his wife Hillary (Naomi Watts). She is trying to coax him into eating a salad for lunch when Lewinsky enters the office wearing a blue dress. Clinton explains to Hillary that Lewinsky is there to take some notes for Panetta, who is out sick. When Hillary leaves, Clinton throws the salad away and calls the White House chef and asks for some fried chicken, which will be ready in 30 minutes. The trash can is already filled with uneaten salads. Clinton sits behind his desk and compliments Lewinsky's blue dress. He then slides his chair back slightly, and Lewinsky gets on her knees underneath the president's desk and gives Clinton a blowjob. When Clinton ejaculates, some of it gets onto Lewinsky's dress.

Lewinsky is soon transferred to new position at the Pentagon in the public affairs office by Panetta after multiple White Office employees start talking about how much Lewinsky has spent around the President. At the Pentagon, she becomes fast friends with co-worker Linda Tripp (Allison Tolman). Lewinsky confides in Tripp that she has been having an affair with President Clinton. Tripp persuades Lewinsky to save any gifts she gives her and to not dry clean the semen-stained blue dress, even though Lewinsky wants to wear it to her upcoming family reunion. Tripp says she needs to keep the dress in case she is later accused of lying about the affair. Lewinsky is unsure why it would ever come to that. Tripp then tells Lewinsky that she looks fat in the dress and shouldn't wear it in public again. Tripp also mutters, “careful, Monica — people who cross the Clintons don’t always live long. Just ask Vince Foster.” Monica laughs nervously. 

Linda Tripp begins trying to shop a book about a secret affair the president is having to literary agent Lucianne Goldberg (Mary Kay Place). Goldberg instructs Tripp to secretly record any phone conversations she has with the president's mistress. As she snacks through the meeting, Goldberg brainstorms titles that sound more like pulp novels than political exposés, delighted at the scandalous potential. Goldberg starts talking about the tapes to colleagues, with word eventually reaching the lawyers of Paula Jones (Lindy Booth), a former Arkansas state employee who had filed a sexual misconduct lawsuit against Clinton when he was governor of Arkansas. When Paula hears about the tapes, she fumes that nobody believed her story first, convinced the President always escapes while his victims get laughed at.

Meanwhile, the Independent counsel on Paula Jones' lawsuit against Clinton, Kenneth Starr (Paul Giamatti) also finds out about Tripp's recordings while investigating Clinton and Hillary for their involvement in a failed business venture call Whitewater. Intrigued, he contacts Tripp to meet for lunch. Over lunch Tripp spills to Starr that she is aware of a relationship between Clinton and Lewinsky, and informs him about the stained dress. 

Paula Jones' lawsuit against Clinton has slowly and quietly worked its way through the courts and is now set to appear before the Supreme Court. Clinton testifies under oath that he has not had any sexual relations with Lewinsky or Jones. When questioned further, Clinton comments that his answers do depend on what the meaning of the word "is" is. Clips of his testimony are replayed endlessly on late-night shows, the evasive phrasing turned into a national punchline. Lewinsky signs an affidavit stating she has never had a sexual relationship with Clinton, at the request of Jones' lawyers. They were hoping to prove that Clinton has displayed a pattern of workplace harassment, but she did not give them the answer they were looking for. Hillary watches the testimony alone at Camp David, her face blank, her fingers tightening around a wine glass.

Over another lunch, Tripp gives Starr the tapes she has recorded of her conversations with Lewinsky in exchange for immunity from prosecution. Starr fully incorporates the Lewinsky-Clinton relationship into his investigation on Clinton. Tripp tells Starr that she is scheduled to meet up with Lewinsky for dinner. Starr arranges for the FBI to wire Tripp to record her dinner with Lewinsky. At dinner, Lewinsky talks to Tripp about how painful it is to not be able to reveal her relationship with Clinton because she is truly in love with him. Outside, agents in a surveillance van take notes furiously. Linda nods sympathetically during the dinner, but later brags on the phone to Goldberg about how gullible Monica is.

Jones' lawyers leak to the media the existence of the semen-stained dress, which is immediately picked up by the media. In order to do damage control, Clinton denies the reports on televisions, stating that he did not have sexual relations with Ms. Lewinsky, all the while Hillary stands by his side. In an interview on the Today Show, Hillary Clinton dismisses the affair allegations as a vast right-wing conspiracy against her husband - the kind of polished lie she knows how to deliver better than Bill himself. Backstage, Hillary coldly instructs aides to make sure Chelsea doesn’t watch the coverage

Starr tells Lewinsky that if she cooperates and turns over the dress for DNA testing that he will grant her immunity and not pursue prosecution for perjury. Lewinsky hires William Ginsburg (Mandy Patinkin) to be her lawyer. Ginsburg meets privately with Starr to tell him that they want to get things done quietly, but without his client having to plead guilty to anything. Ginsburg, bumbling, gives contradictory answers to reporters on the courthouse steps, accidentally comparing Monica to “young starlets.” Reporters exchange smirks, treating him more like a tabloid character than a serious lawyer. Monica watches one of the interviews on TV and buries her head in her hands, realizing her lawyer is making her sound like a punchline. Paula Jones is in court, but the supreme court judge dismisses her sexual harassment suit over a lack of evidence.

With media pressure mounting, Clinton agrees to testify before a grand jury voluntarily. FBI technicians show up at the White House to take a DNA sample of the president to compare against a sample taken from the stain on Lewinsky's dress. Agents snap latex gloves with exaggerated seriousness, labeling a bag “PRESIDENTIAL FLUIDS.” Clinton hums Elvis under his breath as they swab him. Clinton testifies for more than four hours to the grand jury. He admits to inappropriate contact, but doesn't admit to lying about it. When he returns home, Hillary sits across from him at the dinner table in silence, her untouched salad wilting between them, the only sound the clink of Bill’s fork as he eats fried chicken.

Hillary tells Clinton that got himself into this mess and he's going to have to get himself out of it without any words of support from her or Chelsea (Sophia Lillis). That evening he speaks to the nation in a televised address, admitting that he had a relationship with Ms. Lewinsky that was not appropriate. Hillary takes Chelsea on a trip to Camp David to give Clinton some time to clean up his mess and to keep Chelsea away from as much of the media scrutiny as possible. Chelsea snidely tells her mom that everyone at school already knows about what dad did. Hillary tries to brush it off, but Chelsea points out that the scandal has made her a social outcast.

Starr turns in his final report on Clinton to Congress. Even though it started as an investigation into Whitewater, his 445-page report only mentions the failed business venture a handful of times, with the Lewinsky affair making up the bulk. Clerks wheel in boxes of the report like a Costco shipment. One lawyer asks Starr if he wants the clean copy or the sticky notes. Other lawyers highlight words like “semen” and “cigar,” marveling at how much the legal report reads like tabloid erotica. Congress releases the report to the public. Meanwhile, Clinton's approval rating actually goes up a few points.

Clinton receives a phone call informing him that the House of Representatives have voted to hold an impeachment hearing regarding possible charges of perjury and obstruction of justice. Clinton discusses the possibility of resigning with Hillary. Clinton believes the impeachment hearing will go his way, citing the unsuccessful impeachment of Andrew Johnson. He tells Hillary he doesn't want to go out with his tail between his legs like Richard Nixon. Clinton delivers his State of the Union address as the new year begins, in which he doesn't mention the investigation or impeachment at all. In the hallways, aides mutter comparisons to Nixon, adding that at least Nixon never had to deal with DNA evidence on a dress. Hillary, seated in the gallery, stares at her husband with arms crossed.

During the impeachment proceedings, Clinton has his personal lawyer, Vernon Jordan (Andre Braugher) reach a settlement with Paula Jones' attorney that doesn't require him to admit any wrongdoing. Hillary is seriously considering ending her marriage with Clinton, even after she releases a statement reaffirming her commitment to their marriage. She and Chelsea return from Camp David, but she is very cold toward Clinton. After several stressful weeks, Clinton is acquitted of the charges against him... barely. As the verdict is read, Bill grins in relief while Hillary refuses to clap, Chelsea sitting stone-faced between them. Bill leans forward as if to reach for Hillary’s hand, but she pulls her hand away.

Clinton sits in a White House sitting room, playing along with Miles Davis' "My Funny Valentine" on his saxophone. Hillary enters the room and stands next to her husband. On the television behind them, coverage cycles from reports of his acquittal to rising approval numbers, before landing on a pundit shouting about shadowy Arkansas conspiracies. Hillary shuts the TV off, leaving only the squeak of Clinton's saxophone.

-Linda Tripp was fired from her job at the Pentagon on the final day of Clinton's presidency.

-Paula Jones used part of her settlement to pay for a new nose.

-Following the scandal, Monica Lewinsky started her own line of handbags, hosted a reality show and became a corporate spokeswoman.

-Hillary Clinton was elected to the US Senate in 2001, was named Secretary of State in 2009, and came up short in two campaigns for President of the United States.

-Bill Clinton owed millions of dollars in legal fees by the end of his presidency. He also gave up fried chicken for health reasons.

-Despite leaving the White House deep in debt, the Clintons are now worth hundreds of millions of dollars - officially from speeches and books, unofficially from decades of influence-peddling dressed up as public service.