She Said

It started with a 2017 article in the New York Times. Before compiling a book which eventually was adapted into this film, journalists Megan Twohey and Jodi Kantor came out with a thoroughly researched and evidenced piece on Harvey Weinstein. And not about his success at the box office as a film producer and head of the Miramax studio: this was a jaw-dropping account of decades of sexual abuse, and the endless payments that were quietly used to cover it up.

Of course we have already seen movies based around the #MeToo movement, like 2019’s Bombshell, but this is different. Rather than trying to depict this history, the film takes the investigation as its central strategy. The two reporters are its protagonists, their high-wire act of media bravery its drama. Previous attempts had been made to conduct this kind of investigation, but it took the pair’s determination to corroborate existing evidence with new stories. Knowing the supposed dual conclusion, in Weinstein’s arrest and the growth of the movement, only makes seeing these methods more gripping.

The refreshing quality of She Said is seeing women at the heart of a journalism movie. With influential examples like All the President’s Men, the genre has often become dominated by male figures as the heroes; here, Twohey and Kantor take centre stage for their ground-breaking reporting. They have real lives too, which the film nicely includes in its dramatisation. Mulligan and Kazan have big shoes to fill as these heroic women–but, backed by a talented cast, they more than succeed.

Max King