Rated: M
Directed by: Maria Schrader
Produced by: Dede Gardner, Jeremy Kleiner
Executive Produced by: Brad Pitt, Lila Yacoub, Megan Ellison, Sue Naegle
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
Screenplay by: Rebecca Lenkiewicz
Starring: Carey Mulligan, Zoe Kazan, Patricia Clarkson, Andre Braugher, Jennifer Ehle with Samantha Morton and Ashley Judd.
‘He took my voice that day, just when I was starting to find it.’
It’s sobering to remember back to the times before the #MeToo movement, the moment when women found a voice to say, enough.
And the spark that began that conversation, to begin to unpack the silence around the systemic abuse of women and the system that protected those that thought it was OK to sexual abuse women was the New York Times investigative journalists, Megan Twohey and Jodi Kantor.
Based on the book, She Said: Breaking the Sexual Harassment Story That Helped Ignite a Movement, and the article written by the two journalists, Twohey and Kantor, ‘Harvey Weinstein Paid Off Sexual Harassment Accusers for Decades’ (2017), She Said the film, shows the events leading up to publication; the interviews with women silenced by pay-offs and shame and coverups.
Back to when Rose McGowan spoke, no, shouted what needed to be said, to try to fight the machine built to protect abuses while ignoring the abused or even inflicting more punishment on those who dared to speak out.
And so the silence continued.
Reminiscent of Spotlight (2015), the film follows Twohey and Kantor as they work through the research: the meetings, making calls, the reviewing with senior editors, the back and forth – have they got a story here? Are the rumors true? Will anyone go on the record against Harvey Weinstein?
As the executive running two of the biggest names out there, Miramax and the Weinstein Company, Weinstein was able to intimidate and silence survivors with settlements and non-disclosure agreements for decades.
But after an article in the New York Times was posted about the claims of abuse against Bill O’Reilly leading to O’Reilly being fired from Fox News (in 2017), they could say, as investigative journalists, their article made a difference. They were heard and when advertisers started to withdraw from Fox News, the powers that be were forced to take action.
And from that perspective, perhaps there was more to these rumors, making the story of Weinstein’s abuse was worth pursuing.
It’s an emotive story but shown through the clear-eyes of the journalists putting the story together.
Director Maria Schrader says. ‘It’s a very dramatic story, with strong characters up against steep odds and a powerful antagonist, crisscrossing the globe and jumping back and forth in time. This material was so rich to begin with, the task was teasing out its particulars, not heightening or overdramatizing what was already there.’
The abuse isn’t shown in the film, as Schrader notes, ‘I am not interested in adding another rape scene to the world,’ she continues. ‘We’ve had enough of them.’
Instead, the damage is shown by seeing a young Irish girl, 1992, excited to become part of the movie business as a runner, to flash forward to 2016, to see that same girl running down a busy street in New York with tears streaming down her face.
After so many pieces of the story filtering through the news over the years, it was interesting to see the linear picture, to see the story of Weinstein’s downfall and the beginning of a movement that literally changed the world.
I found the leads, Zoe Kazan and Carey Mulligan as the journalists, Jodi Kantor and Megan Twohey in the film likeable, relatable; scary how the stories are relatable. And including Ashley Judd as herself (I’m a big fan of Judd and this just makes me admire her more) in the film and the audio taped while a wire was used to catch Weinstein in the act made an emotive storyline a powerful one.
Not a film I would normally enjoy watching, but there’s a careful constraint here, so the story can be heard rather than turning the audience away.
