She Said

“She Said communicates Jodi’s Jewish background through pivotal scenes.”

Title: She Said (2022)
Director: Maria Schrader 👩🏼🇩🇪
Writers: Screenplay by Rebecca Lenkiewicz 👩🏼🇬🇧 based on the story by Jodi Kantor 👩🏼🇺🇸 and Megan Twohey 👩🏼🇺🇸

Reviewed by Weiting Liu 👩🏻🇨🇳🇺🇸

Technical: 4/5

Finding critical success at its world premiere at New York Film Festival, Maria Schrader’s She Said is an incisive dramatization of New York Times journalists Megan Twohey and Jodi Kantor’s best-selling book of the same title. This adaptation recounts Twohey and Kantor’s groundbreaking investigation in 2017 into Harvey Weinstein’s decades-long sexual harassment and assault of myriad women working in the global film industry.

Elevated by Rebecca Lenkiewicz’s controlled yet compelling screenplay, Schrader’s execution matches her ambition as she interweaves Megan (Carey Mulligan) and Jodi (Zoe Kazan)’s painstaking journalistic endeavors with survivors’ affecting life stories. Narratively and aesthetically reminiscent of films like Spotlight (2015) and Bombshell (2019), She Said excels at coordinating the multitudes of investigative journalism while navigating tricky waters of sexual politics.

The result is an otherwise formulaic newsroom drama that distinguishes itself from predecessors by giving equal weight to its lead reporters and their subjects, who together wrest sovereignty away from a notorious sexual predator and back to themselves. Their collective triumph over Harvey and the abusive systems that protected him is powered by an exhilarating ensemble performance that does this story justice.

Gender: 5/5
Does it pass the Bechdel Test? YES

Fulfilling its promise to give women agency, She Said centers the matriarchal bond between the survivors and reporters as they take down Harvey and expose unchecked rape culture in the film industry.

Schrader and Lenkiewicz go into exhaustive details to educate us about Harvey’s manipulation tactics: He’d take advantage of aspiring women’s respect for him as a successful producer and studio owner, gaslight and triangulate them, normalize sexual interactions by saying that everybody in the industry is “doing this,” and so on. If a woman refused to comply, he would threaten to end their careers. It becomes clear that even the most clear-headed, well-educated women can struggle to get out of such impossible situations, and serves as a reminder to audiences to steer away from victim-blaming.

Schrader and Lenkiewicz also guarantee each survivor a multifaceted backstory of their own, including Harvey’s Irish victim Laura Madden (Jennifer Ehle). What pushes her to go on record is a sense of maternal obligation to her teenage daughters, as she’s determined to leave a legacy that protects them and the next generation of girls from abusers and predators.

Megan and Jodi serve as vessels for these survivors’ truths, anchored by Mulligan and Kazan’s arresting, collaborative performance as each woman balances career and motherhood. They take us on an emotional rollercoaster of late night cold calls and suspenseful door knocks to draw out survivors; however, it’s Megan’s postpartum depression that evokes our care for these women as not just warriors against sexual abuse, but as mothers with relatable vulnerabilities too.

Race: 3/5

People of color appear only in supporting roles, the most prominent of which belongs to Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Dean Baquet, the New York Times’ first Black executive editor. Veteran actor Andre Braugher graces us with an effortlessly charming performance of the always composed Dean, the voice of reason for Megan and Jodi whenever they scramble to sort out leads and an unwavering protector against Harvey’s intimidations.

In a cathartic newsroom scene, Schrader and Lenkiewicz juxtapose Dean and Harvey to champion the former as a loyal ally to survivors and a pivotal force in getting the story out to the public. Here, Harvey calls the New York Times office in desperate hope to negotiate a better deal for himself, only to receive Dean’s cold shoulder. Harvey’s pathetic presence is reduced to a muffled, frenzied voice over the phone, while the camera captures Dean’s calm, determined face from a low angle that renders him in utter control.

Another meaningful character of color is survivor Rowena Chiu (Angela Yeoh), who eventually speaks out about Harvey’s assault on her despite the persecutions she might face from the NDA she was forced to sign. Coming from a British Chinese family, Rowena confides in Jodi that she has long kept the incident to herself in fear of shattering the “model minority” façade that her immigrant parents pressure her to maintain. On top of that, her Christian upbringing exacerbates her shame, because society conditions her to keep her head down and blame herself whenever conflicts arise. Rowena’s courage in getting this secret off her chest points to a racially and culturally specific slam of sexual abuse: Women of color confront various, intersectional barriers that might not come up for white women. Any attempt to destigmatize their sexual trauma calls for recognition.

Bonus for Religion: +0.50

She Said communicates Jodi’s Jewish background through pivotal scenes. At one point, she reveals that a member of Harvey’s team tried to speak with her directly, “Jew to Jew.” The interplay of shared identity comes up again when Jodi similarly appeals to Harvey’s Jewish accountant, who viewers learn is the child of Holocaust survivors. But in the latter case, Jodie entreaties him to stand up for what’s right.

Bonus for Age: +0.25

In her brief yet unforgettable scenes as Rebecca Corbett, the editor and supervisor of Kantor and Twohey’s investigation at the New York Times, screen legend Patricia Clarkson channels an ethereal elegance at 62 years of age at the time of this review. Her easy onscreen confidence reflects the fact that many women over 60 sustain a professional position of power, yet are seldom seen in any substantive way in mainstream movies.

Mediaversity Grade: B+ 4.25/5

Despite the irony of a self-congratulatory Hollywood production, She Said bears significance in how it tracks Kantor and Twohey’s seismic investigation into Weinstein’s sexual crimes. Better yet, it portrays survivors as multidimensional women with zest for life despite their enduring traumas.

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Grade: BLiDecember 7, 2022Female/Nonbinary Creator, Great for: Religion