She Said (15)

Hard-hitting biographical drama based on the true story of New York Times reporters Jodi Kantor and Megan Twohey, who spearheaded an investigation into the history of abuse and sexual misconduct against women linked to Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein. Carey Mulligan and Zoe Kazan play the crusading journalists, directed by Maria Schrader.

LondonNet Film Review

She Said (15) Film Review from LondonNet

On February 24, 2020, a New York jury of seven men and five women found Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein guilty of a criminal sexual act in the first degree and third-degree rape. He was subsequently sentenced to 23 years in prison and has recently been granted the chance to appeal his conviction. The road to the court began publicly on October 5, 2017, when New York Times journalists Jodi Kantor and Megan Twohey published a story entitled Harvey Weinstein Paid Off Sexual Harassment Accusers for Decades. The expose prompted more women to come forward and added fuel to the flames of the “me too” movement…

Directed by Maria Schrader, She Said powerfully dramatises the newspaper’s far-reaching investigation into Weinstein and the psychological toll on the journalists responsible for gathering testimonies and documentation. In one shocking scene, Twohey receives an anonymous phone call from a man who says he is going to rape and murder her then dump her body in the Hudson River. Screenwriter Rebecca Lenkiewicz’s methodical and largely chronological approach recalls 2016 Oscar winner Spotlight, neatly distilling events with occasional cutaways to Kantor and Twohey’s home life.

Following the 2016 election of Donald Trump to the White House, New York Times investigations editor Rebecca Corbett (Patricia Clarkson) encourages her team to ask uncomfortable questions about the pervasiveness of sexual harassment in the workplace. “Interrogate the whole system,” she firmly suggests. Writer Jodi Kantor (Zoe Kazan) picks up the scent of impropriety in Hollywood. She elicits advice and help from fellow NYT writer Megan Twohey (Carey Mulligan), who had fiery exchanges with the Trump camp during the election, and the two women meticulously shape a story about Weinstein under the guidance of Corbett and unflappable executive editor Dean Baquet (Andre Braugher). Actresses Ashley Judd and Gwyneth Paltrow share stories about Weinstein but neither is willing to go on the record.

“People have tried to write this story before. He kills it every time,” despairs former company assistant Zelda Perkins (Samantha Morton), who believes the article is much bigger than one man. “This is about the system protecting abusers,” she adds. Another former assistant Laura Madden (Jennifer Ehle), who is battling breast cancer, bravely recalls her ordeal. “It was like he took my voice that day, just when I was about to start finding it,” she confides. Kantor and Twohey give Madden a voice in their article.

She Said underlines the power of investigative journalism to spark vociferous debate and catalyse lasting change. Kazan and Mulligan both deliver impassioned performances but the words of Weinstein’s on-screen accusers are the gut punches. We feel them long after the end credits roll.

– Jo Planter