How do I even begin to relay the grandness and magnitude of this story? For starters, this is one of my favorite things I’ve read (articles, books, tweets) in recent memory. It begins with a distraught widow hiring a lawyer to stop someone from taking away her horses, a relationship which reveals an unthinkable betrayal and sparks a series of events explaining the vast fortune of the Wildenstein family—a family that isn’t just a giant player in the secretive underground world of art collecting, “they helped pioneer it.” (Picasso was given two floors in one of the family’s buildings in 1918 in exchange for a first look at his work.)
The sprawling epic spans three centuries and includes jaw-dropping deceits, inconceivable amounts of money, free ports, tax havens, multiple “compounds” spread across the world, the Rockefellers, Nazis, two children (Guy and Alec Wildenstein) who weren’t allowed play dates, and a father (Daniel Wildenstein) who took them to brothels when they were teens, in hopes they’d be happy with prostitutes instead of wives—to avoid pricey things like prenups and divorces. And a lawyer at the center of it, Claude Dumont Beghi, trying to unravel it all.
Not only is it a remarkable story, but it’s also a remarkable piece of reporting by Rachel Corbett. And, frankly, it makes Succession look like the Roy family was fighting over ownership of a family coffee shop. Except the Wildenstein fight is all true. (And not over yet.) —Lauren Tousignant
As the federal government careens yet again toward shutdown, I heartily recommend a Veep rewatch—or first watch, if you are somehow, inexplicably, a Jezebel reader who has never indulged in Julia Louis-Dreyfus’ masterpiece. A government shutdown is, in fact, a fun little storyline in Veep’s Season 2. And as our impending real-life shutdown shows, D.C. politics is fundamentally unserious, rooted in egocentrism, theatrical stunts, and reelection.
Veep—the tale of a perennially unlucky, hilariously hateful vice-president-turned-first-female-POTUS and her equal-parts bumbling and ruthless staff—is unrestrained in portraying just how terrible everything is. It’s also teeming with such classic lines as, to quote Louis-Dreyfus’ President Selina Meyer while watching her press secretary get grilled on CNN: “Somewhere in the world there’s a woman exactly my age getting her pussy eaten and I’m stuck here watching this.” Relatable! Between the simmering tensions of the 2024 presidential campaign trail and the ongoing fuckery on Capitol Hill, I cannot imagine a more appropriate time to be watching Veep than right-freaking now. —Kylie Cheung
Read This Wonderful Grub Street Diet
On weeks I’m feeling particularly listless, I like to indulge in backlogs of Grub Street’s food diaries. The better ones are romantic tales of a person’s most intimate relationship: their own with food. Reading about the idiosyncrasies and thoughtfulness with which people choose their food or cook is very comforting. And depending on whose diary you’re reading, it can be a nice reminder that even the most accomplished writers and artists are still just trying to find a decent turkey club at a diner that doesn’t cost $22.
This week’s diary is by New York Times book critic Dwight Garner. It’s incredibly detailed and varied—and examining him through his stomach, it seems like he lives a good life. I’m not sure I’ll ever get the following description of a frozen sandwich out of my head: “The frozen version can’t compete with the sandwich you get in the restaurant. It’s like nibbling the corner of a photograph of your college girlfriend while she’s away for the summer.”
There’s also some great cookbook and cooking app recommendations in this piece if you’re looking for inspiration in that arena. —Kady Ruth Ashcraft
This is not a new movie! But in a year of great evil, what’s more timely than the eternal struggle between God and the Devil??? Literally, that’s what this movie is about: After a fearsome cosmic battle for the souls of all of humanity, God and the Devil have agreed to a détente, with Earth serving as a sort of in-between DMZ where they cannot meddle. But as we humans blunder our way towards heaven or Purgatory, their angles and demons, respectively, sure as hell (pun!) can.
Keanu Reeves, playing the most Keanu Reeves character of all time, is our dark hero, who, after getting a glimpse at the horrors of hell, is determined to reach heaven; he thinks he’ll get there if he exorcizes enough demons on Earth. Rachel Weisz plays twins who see dead things (the woman does twins well). Tilda Swinton is archangel Gabriel, which is just insanely good casting.
So yeah, crazy premise—but this gothic horror comic book film about Catholicism justifies it. Can’t recommend it enough. —Sarah Rense
