SHE SAID
****
Director: Maria Schrader
Screenplay: Rebecca Lenkiewicz, based on The New York Times investigation by Jodi Kantor, Megan Twohey and Rebecca Corbett, and the book She Said: Breaking the Sexual Harassment Story That Helped Ignite a Movement by Jodi Kantor and Megan Twohey.
Principal cast:
Carey Mulligan
Zoe Kazan
Patricia Clarkson
Andre Braugher
Jennifer Ehle
Ashley Judd
Country: USA
Classification: M
Runtime: 129 mins.
Australian release date: 17 November 2022.
According to CNN, when Harvey Weinstein was sentenced to 23 years in prison in February 2020, his response was, “I’m not going to say these [his victims] aren’t great people, I had wonderful times with these people, you know. It is just I’m totally confused and I think most men are confused about these issues.” Hence, the birth of the #metoo movement that evolved in response to the sexual harassment in the workplace that women have been exposed to for many years - harassment that involved physical and mental abuse by their male peers. All too regularly, their complaints were ignored and many remained silent for fear of reprisals. That all changed when two female journalists, Megan Twohey (Carey Mulligan) and Jodi Kantor (Zoe Kazan), and their senior editor, Rebecca Corbett (Patricia Clarkson), working for The New York Times, endeavoured to set the record straight. They exposed the vile, apparently irrepressible, behaviour of Harvey Weinstein, the head of the acclaimed independent film company Miramax, gaining evidence of his sexual crimes going back to the early nineties. His predatory behaviour had ruined the lives and careers of dozens of young women employed by the company and in the film industry at large.
She Said, helmed by German director Maria Schrader, is based on the NYT investigation and a subsequent book written by the two journos. Their work was the catalyst for a wider examination of men’s sexual conduct in the workplace; even one of the contenders for the US presidency in 2016, Donald Trump, came under scrutiny for his treatment of women. In Weinstein’s case, the two writers faced the almost insurmountable challenge of encouraging women who had been victims of the Miramax CEO to speak on the record about their experiences but their persistent efforts ultimately paid off. Despite intimidation from Weinstein, his attorneys and assorted enablers, the balance of power shifted when an early victim, ex-employee Laura Madden (a bravura performance from Jennifer Ehle), decided to speak out publicly and opened the floodgates for others to follow. And the rest, as they say, is history.
Schrader’s film demonstrates how difficult it was to get absolute proof of the offences as the women involved had often been coerced into signing Non-Disclosure Agreements which prohibited them from speaking out. The New York Times bravely went ahead and published the journalists’ evidence, though, and the pair’s superiors, senior editor Corbett and chief editor Dean Baquet (Andre Braugher), strongly supported them. It is interesting (and a little depressing) to observe that, had the case not involved some famous faces, it may not have achieved the international notoriety that it did. Although the actresses who came forward at the time are mentioned (and Ashley Judd bravely plays herself), it is Laura Madden’s exposé in an interview with Kantor on a sunny beach in New Quay, Wales, which makes the greatest impact in Rebecca Lenkiewicz’s excellent script.
She Said is a tight, comprehensive movie that delivers its information in a controlled way, avoiding hysteria and grandstanding, inexorably building to a satisfying conclusion. The quiet power and slow-build of the screenplay and Mulligan and Kazan’s admirable performances are augmented by Natasha Braier’s static camera-work; her consistent mid shots emphasise and add perspective to Twohey and Kantor’s dogged sleuthing. Nicholas Britell’s score, mainly comprised of piano and cello, helps in this regard, too.
This is an important movie that covers a shameful event in recent history and one can only hope that the globalisation of the #metoo movement remains a central factor in improving the treatment of women in the workplace, and elsewhere, in the future. As for men who think like Weinstein, seeing She Said should remove any ‘confusion about these issues’ they may have and provide them with some unambiguous clarity about how to behave around women.
Screenplay: Rebecca Lenkiewicz, based on The New York Times investigation by Jodi Kantor, Megan Twohey and Rebecca Corbett, and the book She Said: Breaking the Sexual Harassment Story That Helped Ignite a Movement by Jodi Kantor and Megan Twohey.
Principal cast:
Carey Mulligan
Zoe Kazan
Patricia Clarkson
Andre Braugher
Jennifer Ehle
Ashley Judd
Country: USA
Classification: M
Runtime: 129 mins.
Australian release date: 17 November 2022.
According to CNN, when Harvey Weinstein was sentenced to 23 years in prison in February 2020, his response was, “I’m not going to say these [his victims] aren’t great people, I had wonderful times with these people, you know. It is just I’m totally confused and I think most men are confused about these issues.” Hence, the birth of the #metoo movement that evolved in response to the sexual harassment in the workplace that women have been exposed to for many years - harassment that involved physical and mental abuse by their male peers. All too regularly, their complaints were ignored and many remained silent for fear of reprisals. That all changed when two female journalists, Megan Twohey (Carey Mulligan) and Jodi Kantor (Zoe Kazan), and their senior editor, Rebecca Corbett (Patricia Clarkson), working for The New York Times, endeavoured to set the record straight. They exposed the vile, apparently irrepressible, behaviour of Harvey Weinstein, the head of the acclaimed independent film company Miramax, gaining evidence of his sexual crimes going back to the early nineties. His predatory behaviour had ruined the lives and careers of dozens of young women employed by the company and in the film industry at large.
She Said, helmed by German director Maria Schrader, is based on the NYT investigation and a subsequent book written by the two journos. Their work was the catalyst for a wider examination of men’s sexual conduct in the workplace; even one of the contenders for the US presidency in 2016, Donald Trump, came under scrutiny for his treatment of women. In Weinstein’s case, the two writers faced the almost insurmountable challenge of encouraging women who had been victims of the Miramax CEO to speak on the record about their experiences but their persistent efforts ultimately paid off. Despite intimidation from Weinstein, his attorneys and assorted enablers, the balance of power shifted when an early victim, ex-employee Laura Madden (a bravura performance from Jennifer Ehle), decided to speak out publicly and opened the floodgates for others to follow. And the rest, as they say, is history.
Schrader’s film demonstrates how difficult it was to get absolute proof of the offences as the women involved had often been coerced into signing Non-Disclosure Agreements which prohibited them from speaking out. The New York Times bravely went ahead and published the journalists’ evidence, though, and the pair’s superiors, senior editor Corbett and chief editor Dean Baquet (Andre Braugher), strongly supported them. It is interesting (and a little depressing) to observe that, had the case not involved some famous faces, it may not have achieved the international notoriety that it did. Although the actresses who came forward at the time are mentioned (and Ashley Judd bravely plays herself), it is Laura Madden’s exposé in an interview with Kantor on a sunny beach in New Quay, Wales, which makes the greatest impact in Rebecca Lenkiewicz’s excellent script.
She Said is a tight, comprehensive movie that delivers its information in a controlled way, avoiding hysteria and grandstanding, inexorably building to a satisfying conclusion. The quiet power and slow-build of the screenplay and Mulligan and Kazan’s admirable performances are augmented by Natasha Braier’s static camera-work; her consistent mid shots emphasise and add perspective to Twohey and Kantor’s dogged sleuthing. Nicholas Britell’s score, mainly comprised of piano and cello, helps in this regard, too.
This is an important movie that covers a shameful event in recent history and one can only hope that the globalisation of the #metoo movement remains a central factor in improving the treatment of women in the workplace, and elsewhere, in the future. As for men who think like Weinstein, seeing She Said should remove any ‘confusion about these issues’ they may have and provide them with some unambiguous clarity about how to behave around women.