Client 9: The Rise and Fall of Eliot Spitzer

The end of the political career of Eliot Spitzer came suddenly. Sixty-two weeks after his inauguration as Governor of New York State, he was forced to resign following the revelation that he was among the clients of a high-class escort agency. reconstructs the rise and fall of the ambitious Spitzer, who won for the Democrats at the end of 2006 with 69% of the vote. Alongside the dynamically edited archive material, Spitzer himself speaks, filmed from different camera angles. He allows his favorite prostitute to be interviewed, anonymously; her story is retold verbatim by an actress. Spitzer's enemies also share their views of the events. They are mostly Republicans and represent big money, such as the former chairman of the board of insurance giant AIG, Maurice Greenberg, who couldn't be bothered with Spitzer's moral yammering: "All I ask for is an unfair advantage." Although these opponents cheered his fall with thinly disguised enthusiasm, Spitzer makes no bones about it all being his own fault. All of which goes to show how reckless leisure-time activities can make mincemeat of high-minded expectations in no time at all. As a lawyer and public prosecutor, Spitzer tackled companies polluting the environment, the New York Mafia and - presciently - the white-collar criminals of Wall Street. But his promising political agenda was obliterated by his overactive libido.