‘The Girl from Plainville’: Elle Fanning Nails Michelle Carter’s Makeover in Episode 6

When Michelle Carter first arrived in the courthouse in June of 2017, her appearance took reporters by surprise. Gone was her long hair and every-girl smile. “She was thin, she was blonde, she was tanning booth tan. It felt like she knew she was going to be photographed,”  journalist Jesse Barron recalls in HBO’s documentary about the case, I Love You, Now Die. It’s also a shift The Girl from Plainville captures perfectly.

Though it’s been teased since Episode 1, “Talking Is Healing” is the first episode that sees Michelle (Elle Fanning) in trial. Not coincidentally, it’s also an installment that features Fanning’s best impression of Carter to date. Prior to this episode, the Michelle we know is defined by long blonde hair, minimal makeup, and a nice smile. This was also the version of Carter that was largely sold to the public.

That’s not who appears in the courtroom. With her stylish hair, tanned skin, darkened eyebrows, and more mature clothes, the Michelle who appears in Episode 6 is a far cry from the girl next door. Before Anna Sorokin used the courtroom as her own personal catwalk and Elizabeth Holmes reinvented herself with curls, Carter was there with a new look that clearly communicated her own maturity. If she was accused of a crime that sprung from her ignorance and naïveté, her sharpened edges and button downs declared that she had grown up.

Achieving that look was a challenge for The Girl from Plainville’s costume and makeup departments. According to W Magazine, costume designer Mirren Gordon-Crozier spent hours trying to track down the exact outfits Carter wore in court. Once she realized that a particular floral shirt was from Ann Taylor Loft, Gordon-Crozier realized that Carter’s mother had purchased most of her courtroom outfits. Makeup artist Ayanian Monroe had a similar struggle making the naturally pale Fanning tanner for these scenes. She tried to recreate every detail from these real-life moments, from Carter’s “outlandish eyebrows” to the scabs that would later appear on Carter’s lips due to nervous gnawing. Hairdresser Jules Holdren created three wigs for the series, incorporating a forehead prosthetic into the courtroom wig to show Michelle’s weight loss and hair breakage.

It’s an impressive amount of work. But it’s also one that would mean nothing if it wasn’t for Fanning’s performance. So much of what has made this case endure in the public’s imagination has to do with what happened during the trial. It wasn’t just Carter’s position as an attractive white woman who had encouraged an unspeakable act. It was also the photos that emerged, pictures shrouded in unreadable expressions and confusing intentions. Fanning captures this confusion perfectly.

Are the tears that stream down the face of the otherwise expressionless Michelle a sign of genuine regret or self-pity? Are her stony looks proof of a young woman desperately trying to keep her composure or do they indicate boredom? Through Fanning, it’s impossible to tell. It’s also only the first of two makeovers that happened in this case.

Uncertainty has always been what has made this case so upsetting yet compelling. Even close to eight years after the death of Conrad Roy III, we don’t know why Carter encouraged her boyfriend to end his life. In “Talking Is Healing”, Fanning doesn’t just nail Carter’s appearance. She accurately portrays the entire mystery surrounding this case.

New episodes of The Girl form Plainville premiere on Hulu Tuesdays.