She Said ★★★★
She Said follows New York Times reporters efforts to break one of the most important stories in recent times
Based on the 2019 book She Said: Breaking the Sexual Harassment Story That Helped Ignite a Movement by the New York Times journalists Meghan Twohey and Jodi Kantor, She Said is a biographical film charting the journey from the first murmurs of sexual harassment by Harvey Weinstein through to the publication of the now infamous article in October 2017 which ultimately lead to the explosion of the #MeToo movement around the world.
Much like the 2015 film Spotlight, this is an intimate, quiet film. An actual recorded conversation between Harvey Weinstein and model Ambra Gutierrez is used to add weight to the script by the excellent Rebecca Lenkiewicz, but it never feels like we are being beaten around the head, just led through the information and left to form our own (inevitable) conclusions.
The lead roles of Twohey and Kantor are played by Carey Mulligan and Zoe Kazan respectively. They head a solid ensemble including Patricia Clarkson as the story editor Rebecca Corbett, alongside Jennifer Ehle (Laura Madden) and Samantha Morton (Zelda Perkins) both playing British former assistants of Miramax and Ashley Judd, a victim of Weinstein, plays herself.
This is not a film that can be ‘enjoyed’ nor one that you will probably want to watch again, but director Maria Schrader weaves a solid film around some extremely difficult material. Its release seemed quick and quiet so it may have been missed by quite a few people, but it is an important film that deserves to be seen.
She Said remains on general release at cinemas and is also available to buy or rent on Prime Video
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