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REVIEW | She Said is a powerful film about the reckoning that resulted in the Me Too era

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Carey Mulligan in She Said.
Carey Mulligan in She Said.
Photo: YouTube/Screengrab

The true story about the work done by journalists Jodi Kantor and Megan Twohey to break the story about Harvey Weinstein's sexual misconduct allegations. 


We are enough years divorced from the #MeToo crisis of 2017/2018 that people are starting to question if the movement worked. It will still be a while before we know for sure, but Maria Schrader's film She Said is an excellent example of a movie that shows the impact of the movement while still being a well-told story about a sensitive issue. 

Based on the book by the same time, She Said follows The New York Times journalists Jodi Kantor (Zoe Kazan) and Megan Twohey (Carey Mulligan) as they investigate the sexual assault allegations against film producer Harvey Weinstein. The film explores their tedious search for evidence and on-the-record sources while depicting their home struggles as wives and mothers. 

She Said is more of a journalism film, in line with All the President's Men, Spotlight and The Post, rather than other MeToo films like Bombshell. While Bombshell told the stories about the sexual assault allegations against Fox News CEO Roger Ailes, and we saw him as the villain on the camera, She Said does not try to reenact the crimes of Weinstein. Instead, it tells the story of the journalists and victims who worked to expose him. 

Harvey Weinstein himself exists as a boogeyman throughout the film. We feel his presence as Jodi and Megan try to get proof of his actions, as he intimidates witnesses and uses everything in his arsenal to kill the story. We hear his voice in a phone call, and Mike Houston plays him in a scene towards the end of the film when Harvey attempts to intimidate the journalists at the Times, but we only see the back of his head. This is an important decision because Weinstein is such a recognisable figure that if they had cast an actor and shown us his face and it did not look like Weinstein, we know it might have taken us out of the film. Also, leaving him faceless adds to the scariness of the character and keeps the subjectiveness on the women covering the story and the victims, thus taking away his voice. 

It felt very significant that the film centred the journalists and the victims over the perpetrator. And this works especially in the fact that they never depict the actual sexual misconduct. There are scenes where characters such as Zelda Perkins (Samantha Morton), Rose McGowan (voiced by Keilly McQuail), and Ashley Judd (playing herself) tell the journalists what happened to them, and we hear it all in their words. Flashbacks showing young assistants like Rowena Chiu (Angela Yeoh) and Laura Madden (Jennifer Ehle) after their respective assaults help to increase the realism of these incidents without feeling like it is exploiting the victims. 

One cannot deny that this story was as explosive as it was because the victims were famous, not just the perpetrator. And a lot of attention is bestowed on the celebrity victims such as Rose McGowan, Ashley Judd and Gwyneth Paltrow, but the scenes that were more poignant for me were the scenes with the less well-known victims. The most powerful scene is when Jodi is interviewing Zelda Perkins. She tells the story of how Harvey attacked Rowena Chiu, and Zelda confronted him before they resigned and were given settlements and had to sign NDAs not to talk about the incident. The scene is littered with flashbacks, but it is in Morton's telling of the story that we feel the impact of the incident and the damage that Weinstein's actions have caused many people. Jennifer Ehle's portrayal of Laura Morton is also particularly strong. The film starts with young Laura getting beckoned to join a movie set in Ireland in the 90s, and just one scene later shows her running away in fear. As Jodi and Megan investigate their story, Laura is going through cancer treatment, and we can see the memories of what has happened to her lay heavy on her heart. It is a powerful performance. 

As the leads, Carey Mulligan and Zoe Kazan are both strong, but Mulligan knocks it out of the park. She is so comfortable in her role as Megan that it feels lived in; she is Megan. And as she struggles with postpartum depression, we see her break and let herself be vulnerable. In the same way, we feel her glee and pride when she makes a break in her story or gets someone to reveal something they don't want to say. What I also enjoyed about the film depicting Jodi and Megan's home life is that it didn't fall into the stereotypical. Often, we have watched as journalists become obsessed with stories, and it causes their husbands and partners to resent them, Jodi and Megan's husbands, however, support them, and it is a breath of fresh air. 

Journalism is often a tedious and unglamorous affair, with a lot of cold-callings, fact-checking and perusing through documents. But She Said does not try and make it seem like it is better than this. The show uses a layer of realism as they use the real New York Times office and even their CMS (content management system). But like other journalism films, one feels a thrill when the journalists start unravelling their story piece by piece, and even though we know how this is going to turn out, there is always that layer of tension that the story won't happen. It is a testament to the storytelling that in a scene where Jodi breaks out into tears as she finally gets a break, I cried too, overwhelmed in frustration with Jodi. And the scene when they finally click 'publish' is so fraught with tension that it feels almost triumphant once it goes live. 

There will be many films about the Me Too movement in future, and She Said is an excellent one to set the standard at a time when we are questioning the movement and its impact. One cannot deny how the work of Jodi Kantor and Megan Twohey helped to bring down a predator and give so many women their voices back. The way the film was led by the truth, and by the voices of the victims is worth commending. 

Where to watch: Now showing in cinemas.

Cast: Carey Mulligan, Zoe Kazan, Patricia Clarkson, Andre Braugher

Our rating: 4/5 Stars

WATCH THE TRAILER HERE:


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