SHE SAID

US, 2022, 128 minutes, Colour.

Carey Mulligan, Zoe Kazan, Patricia Clarkson, Andre Braugher, Jennifer Ehle, Samantha Morton, Zach Grenier, Angela Yeoh, Sean Cullen.

Directed by Maria Schrader.

In sexual harassment trials, He Said has had more standing than She Said.

She Said is the title of a series of articles by New York Times journalists, Megan Twohey and Jodi Kantor, who followed leads on issues of sexual harassment in the workplace, taking them to the entertainment industry, to Hollywood and to the now-jailed producer, Harvey Weinstein. They won a Pulitzer Prize for their investigations.

Here is a drama which keeps the attention all the way through. It is in the tradition of newspaper investigation films, thinking Watergate and All the President’s Men, clerical abuse and Spotlight, the Pentagon papers and The Post. We are with the journalists every step of their investigation, taking some moments out for their private lives, Megan Twohey pregnant and then experiencing post-natal depression, Jodi Kantor, Jewish background, husband and two children. They are supported well by their husbands and care for the children.

Journalists spend a lot of their time on the phone, making contacts, contacts hanging up, some leads, anonymous tips, exercising patience, and always trying the power of persuasion. Carey Mulligan and Zoe Kazan certainly bring the two journalists to very active life. And, at the New York Times (much of the film shot in the actual offices), there are the sympathetic, but demanding for accuracy, always backup, powers that be, Patricia Clarkson and Andre Braugher, Editor and Executive Director.

With Harvey Weinstein in jail and a long sentence, other charges pending, this material is in the public arena. Rose McGowan who was at the forefront of accusations against Weinstein, is heard, via an actress, in phone calls. There are quite a number of mentions of Gwyneth Paltrow. But, most strikingly, Ashley Judd, appears as herself, re-enacting scenes of her making complaints, her accusations, her decision that the journalists could go public with her name.

Especially effective are interviews with women who worked with Weinstein in Hollywood, in London, in Hong Kong. Well worth seeing are the interviews with the three women, introducing them with some background contacts, two of them in England with Jodi Kantor venturing to meet them. Zelda Perkins is played by Samantha Morton, a powerful performance, most of it with the two women sitting in a cafe and the quietly impassioned telling of the story. This sequence remains in the memory. We are also introduced to Laura Madden, suffering from breast cancer, a mother, unwilling to talk about her experiences with Weinstein but eventually relenting, another very powerful interview sequence, this time by Jennifer Ehle. In a way, these two sequences, and a third with a young woman from Hong Kong (Angela Yeoh) are the heart of the film.

There is also reference to Ronan Farrow at the New Yorker, his parallel investigations – and he later shared the Pulitzer Prize.

There are many male characters in the film, executives who worked for Weinstein, some who controlled the payoffs to quite a number of women (an important area of fact-checking for the journalists), lawyers, agents, some eventually prepared to give hints, and some to talk.

And, at the end, Weinstein himself appears, that is an actor who, from the back, look like Weinstein, and has him visiting the New York Times offices. And there are his phone calls to the editors, when it seems that he is beginning to run scared.

In recent years there was the television series, The Louder Voice, and the film, Bombshell, exposing the sexual harassment and behaviour of Fox News Roger Aisles, so harassment material has been seen recently on our screens, but the series and film were about investigations within Fox News and its journalists.

But, together, they form what will be the beginning of many films and series tackling the issue, challenging societies consciousness and confidences, and exposes which must be made.

1. The importance of this film? Violence and sexual violence against women? Workplace violence? In entertainment industries? The #MeToo movement? Journalist investigations and publication?
2. The film based on facts, investigative journalism, the New York Times journalists, the editorial support (and Ronan Farrow at the same time with his New Yorker exposes)? The book published in 2018?
3. Audience response to the me too movement? The revelation is in the 2010s? Harvey Weinstein? Roger Ailes at Fox News? Their being disgraced? Harvey Weinstein and imprisonment?
4. The tradition of investigative journalist films, the focus on the journalist themselves, personal, this time a focus on families and obligations, median to eat, pregnant, the birth, postnatal depression, relationship with her husband and his care for the children? Jodi Kantor, Jewish, her husband, supportive? The domestic sequences filling out the background, at home, happiness, difficulties, outings, the women busy, the husbands at home?
5. Authenticity, sequences filmed at the New York Times building?
6. Jodi Cantor, strong personality, work as a journalist, dedication? The contact from Rose McGowan, the voice on the phone? Later the connection with Gwyneth Paltrow? Ashley Judd? The initial investigation about domestic and sexual violence, in general, the leads to the entertainment industries? Discussions with the editor and the Director of the New York Times?
7. Megan Twohey, strong personality, work as a journalist, the aftermath of the birth, needing to work? The encounters with Jodi, some wariness, discussions, at the office, information, the investigation, the agreement to work together? Going to the editor, the endorsement by the editor?
8. The follow through with the actresses? Rose McGowan, the phone call, hesitations? Gwyneth Paltrow, information, not using the names? The importance for this film of Ashley Judd appearing as herself, re-living what she did, the information, the accusations, and the later sequences of her being persuaded to give her name, her final consent?
9. The work of the journalist, the continued phone calls, interstate, international, at any time? Going for interviews? Frustrations? The lead for the Hong Kong employee, Jodi visiting her husband, his not knowing anything about what happened?
10. Sharing notes, sharing jobs, time passing?
11. The employee giving information about the women in England? Jodi arranging to go to England for the interviews?
12. The interview with Zelda Perkins, Samantha Morton’s performance, strength of character, intensity, memories, the reality of working with Weinstein, the hopes, his advances? Eventually too much? Losing her job? The impact for Jodi, Zelda Perkins leaving, seeing her through the window of the London cafe?
13. Laura Madden, her family, her cancer, her reluctance to communicate? The scenes with family? Jennifer Ehle’s performance, gentle? Her eventually agreeing to see Jodi, the intensity of the interview, the personal touch is, the memories, giving permission to use her story?
14. Tracking down Rowena Chiu, her reluctance, her personality, her experience, keeping Weinstein’s behaviour secret? Agreeing to the interview?
15. The men in the background, the range, the interviews with the various men, memories of their past, acknowledging their past, some of their wives and the shock? The managers at the Weinstein company? The lawyers, the arrangement for payments, the gradual revelation of documentation? Legal authorities? Agreeing to be interviewed but anonymous comments? The men willing finally to expose Weinstein?
16. The information to Harvey Weinstein himself, his reaction, attacking the journalist,s his apology if he heard anyone in the past, his coming to the New York Times office, the actor looking like Weinstein from the back? Ashley Judd and her final confirmation?
17. The articles, the deadlines, the legal checking, the presence of the Editor, of the Director, their personalities, discussions with the journalist, the strategies, the final okay?
18. The achievement of the article, the achievement of the book, the film?