She Said review: Slow, steady, significant

Bombshell. Promising Young Woman. Now, She Said. In a perfect world, these movies – two based on real-life events – wouldn’t exist. But young women keep being exploited, sexually abused and silenced by men, while typically those close to events stay quiet and complicit. So here we are again, with a biographical drama that dives into yet another scandal that made global headlines.

Non Americans may not have been familiar with the sexual misconduct claims from female employees at Fox News, which led to the firing of CEO Roger Ailes (explored in the Oscar-winning 2019 film Bombshell). But there’s a good chance they’ve heard of the allegations against Hollywood heavyweight and Miramax co-founder Harvey Weinstein. If not, then perhaps the phrase “Me Too” will ring a bell?

The latter two are linked, with the Weinstein revelations helping to spark the social solidarity movement, which encourages women to speak openly about harassment and abuse they’ve received. The knock-on effect of these candid discussions has been spotlighting the broken systems that enable such behaviour to continue. Going back to the start – looking at how hushed whispers triggered ripples that would become a tsunami – is exactly what She Said does.

From Unorthodox director Maria Schrader, and Disobedience screenwriter (and playwright) Rebecca Lenkiewicz, She Said tracks how New York Times investigative journalists Megan Twohey (Carey Mulligan) and Jodi Kantor (Zoe Kazan) got people to go on the record, and bring Weinstein to justice after decades of preying on the young women he had power over. Twohey and Kantor’s efforts would win them a Pulitzer Prize, although obviously that was never their goal.

Now, it’s fair to say that She Said won’t be for everyone. The film sits among the All the President’s Men and Spotlights of the cinematic world, which celebrate reporters who doggedly pursue the truth. These movies don’t often find mainstream appeal, probably because they’re not really “big screen” cinematic. There’s a lot of phone calls, poring over documents, people clustered around screens as articles are collaboratively written, and our heroes sitting cross-armed in boardrooms with silver-haired editorial staff.

She Said is an important film. It’s frequently chilling. But it’s also very much in this genre mould. In remaining true to real-life events – demonstrating an integrity and determination to match Twohey and Kantor’s – She Said isn’t consistently gripping. The film waxes and wanes, then waxes again over its 129-minute runtime as it refuses to neatly connect the dots of its narrative. It has some pacing issues as a result.

In its defence, She Said doesn’t lack visual flair. One particularly memorable scene calls to mind the most ominous moments of The Shining. The camera meanders down the opulent yet suffocating passageways of a hotel where Weinstein would assault women, all while playing a voice recording of a typical exchange between the moviemaker and one of his victims. Like the film as a whole, it’s an unflinching exposé but never gratuitous. Then again, it doesn’t have to be in order to be impactful.

It’s the performances that mostly energise She Said. Mulligan and Kazan demonstrate two different personality and interpersonal relationship styles, with Mulligan tapping into the indignant fire against injustice that we’ve already seen from her in Promising Young Woman. Her Twohey is equal parts no-nonsense and anxious – based on her previous experiences pursuing similar stories. Meanwhile, Kantor is softer and less intimidating, but no less effective in getting people to open up.

She Said’s stars steady the ship, with Patricia Clarkson and Andre Braugher appearing in memorable supporting roles. What really electrifies the film though are the near back-to-back accounts of former Miramax employees Zelda Perkins (Samantha Morton) and Laura Madden (Jennifer Ehle). Oscar worthy in their delivery, these monologues mine the complex feelings of abuse survivors, made even more knotty in the Weinstein case as many of his victims accepted settlements for keeping their mouths shut.

For the record, Ashley Judd appears as herself in the film, representing one of the high-profile actresses who spoke up against Weinstein and how he exerted his substantial influence to snuff out her career when she resisted his advances. Rose McGowan has a vocal stand-in for phone conversations shown in the movie, while Gwyneth Paltrow is also represented, but does not appear.

She Said just refuses to succumb to sensationalism, or traditional Hollywood moments for audiences to cheer over. As an example, the Weinstein story doesn’t break with all his victims standing together to speak out. A few individual voices had to bravely go on the record alone, despite the target this would place on their back from the exceptionally well-connected and lawyered-up Weinstein.

So, She Said is slow at times, and definitely sombre. Fortunately, though, it’s not relentlessly gloomy. There’s an enjoyable, natural camaraderie between Twohey and Kantor (which you rarely see in female professional relationships onscreen), plus gratification in how Andre Braugher’s executive editor outmanoeuvres bully Weinstein every step of the way. More importantly, though, She Said doesn’t become overly fixated on legal justice at the expense of the women affected by Weinstein’s actions.

Before the credits roll, and we get the inevitable text screen summary of how events played out in reality, the film pays tribute to the courage of the abuse survivors. Throughout She Said, there is never any judgement over how these women reacted, vastly different from case to case. And in the end, their carrying on, despite how the assault forever altered their life path, is a true act of bravery and triumph.

Having premiered at the New York Film Festival in October, She Said releases in South African and American cinemas tomorrow, Friday, 18 November.