I saw a screening of Glass Onion one day, and the next day it was She Said. I immediately thought of it as the second movie of the week with a Beatles song title. Then I quickly realized it was a play on the “he said/she said” and the book it is based on.
German director Maria Schrader is showing she’s a real talent. This is the third movie she’s done I’ve enjoyed (her movie I’m Your Man last year made my Top 10 list).
This story is about the New York Times reporters, Megan Twohey (Carey Mulligan) and Jodi Cantor (Zoe Kazan), that exposed movie mogul Harvey Weinstein’s abusive behavior of women, which sometimes went as far as rape.
The first half of the movie was slow in parts, as well as being heavy-handed. We don’t need to see a checklist of things a film dealing with journalism has. It’s one of the reasons I wasn’t as fond of Spotlight (Michael Keaton) as everyone else was. I prefer newspaper films to be like All the President’s Men and Absence of Malice (my favorite of them all). I also thought this might only be of interest to those who don’t know the story on Weinstein. Since I knew all this, I didn’t think they’d give me much of interest. Yet the second half exceeded my expectations and it became rather engrossing.
We first meet Twohey, who’s leading an investigation into accusations against Donald Trump. Jodi Cantor starts working with her, looking into accusations made by actresses Ashley Judd (who plays herself) and Rose McGowan against Weinstein.
I enjoyed how none of the characters in this were over the top. The editors at the paper (one played by the always wonderful Patricia Clarkson) aren’t screaming about deadlines. Husbands aren’t yelling at their wives for coming home at midnight after a long day at work. One just jokes about having an affair, to see if she’s paying attention. Even when the reporters deal with people in Weinstein’s camp – a lawyer isn’t this shrewd character we hate. He’s actually…surprisingly forthcoming. There’s an account that acts a bit weird, but again, it’s not over-the-top stuff. And when we get the stories from some of the women harmed by Weinstein, they didn’t feel sensationalized. It was some powerful stuff.
When we do hear Weinstein (voiced by Mike Houston), it’s rather powerful. You can hear him trying to bully the staff at the Times, who don’t seem bothered at all. There’s another scene where we hear the real recordings of Weinstein pleading with a woman (who had a hidden mic). We had heard all that before, but it still packed a punch, since we’re thinking about all the other women that had to deal with his pressuring, bullying tactics.
I was wondering why they did four or five exterior shots of the New York Times building. We get it. They’re working inside there (it’s a shame that the paper can’t be more like journalists these days, instead of having a political agenda; but that’s another complaint for another time).
I would have enjoyed a bit more about the reporters' personal lives, although I did like how they dealt with the women they were interviewing. They seemed caring, and you start to wonder how you would handle getting information from people that don’t want to talk, or have signed an NDA. There’s one scene with a husband who is confronted, and he obviously knows nothing of his wife’s previous dealings with Weinstein. That scene is so well-written and executed, it could be shown at film schools. Another director would have had the guy screaming “Get off my property!” or some such rubbish. This guy is angry, but more perplexed than anything. The reporter, who is relatively young, also seems confused and not sure of exactly how to handle it.
Jennifer Ehle plays one of Weinstein’s former assistants, and is great in this. I also loved seeing underrated actress Samantha Morton also as a victim. These are both emotional stories, and Nicholas Britell gives us a haunting score that helps carry the scenes as well.
One other supporting role I want to mention is Andre Braugher, playing a senior editor. He conveys an authoritative vibe while also seeming simply tired from years of dealing with Weinstein’s BS.
It’s great that Hollywood tackled this story. I’d just like to see a story about why they won’t do anything about Mel Gibson and he continues to make movies. But I digress.
And after hearing how often Weinstein wore bathrobes to “meetings” with various women…and Bill Cosby often wore a bathrobe when women were called to his hotel or house…as well as Charlie Rose – women, if a guy is wearing a bathrobe at the workplace, run!
3 stars out of 5.