by Alice-Ginevra Micheli, Contributing Writer
We all love a good investigative journalism movie. One where you can really sink your teeth into the subject matter, and feel the triumph of fact and research on those with power. We all felt this in films like All the President’s Men, Spotlight,and TV shows like The Newsroom. The visceral feeling of fighting through the written word is one that is often unmet by many other forms of content.
So you can imagine my excitement when I heard that a movie like She Said was about to bless our screens. A film that would follow New York Times reporters Megan Twohey (Carey Mulligan) and Jodi Kantor (Zoe Kazan) as they break one of the most important stories in a generation, and shatter decades of silence around the subject of sexual assault in Hollywood.
In fact, I’d say that this one had another layer of expectation behind it, as the controversy at its center is one that is still very much being grappled with today, and has been openly dealt with in infamy across many very public figures.
So with the highest of bars that this movie had to clear, the question remains: was it successful?
First thing’s first, the storytelling is powerful. Showing this investigative tale through the eyes of its key female reporters allows one to truly feel what it was like to be embroiled at the center of one of the modern world’s scariest controversies, both for those telling the story, and for those who the story is about. After all, the achievement is no mean feat. These two women, and their extended New York Times team, worked behind the scenes to begin exposing decades of secrets, cover-ups, and intense sexual assault that had been protected by many. As part of that, I certainly felt on the edge of my seat the entire time. I wanted to know, what happened next? Which victim did they talk to? What did they say? What was going to be the clincher that finally took Weinstein down? I’d almost say it was thrilling for being a mostly pencil-pushing narrative. However, what I can say is that it was intense, and in a good way.
Mulligan and Kazan are of course spectacular in their roles. Powerful yet mature in their representation of stubborn women who will get the job done. However, what I also really enjoyed is the decided and careful development of their own friendship. These small moments of quietude and bonding allow a strength of character to develop that further sells their motivation and general journalistic prowess. As an audience member. you believe these women, you trust these women, and you can in turn believe that these terrified victims might begin to do the same.
They are also joined by a cast of wonderfully charismatic character actors such as Patricia Clarkson, Andre Braugher, and Jennifer Ehle, who simply melt into their roles with an expert ability that furthers your trust in the whole endeavor. These are people who care and have the wherewithal to make a difference.
Having said all of that, this isn’t a perfect movie. It’s imperfect, and I’d almost say that’s kind of the point. This isn’t a movie about people always making the correct decision or doing the smart thing. This is a movie about people who assumed incorrectly, chose naively, and hoped with uncertainty, and were eventually embroiled in a situation worse than they could have ever imagined.
However, this isn’t me giving the movie grace where it doesn’t deserve it. I, for one, would have liked for the story to go more in-depth into the aftermath of the whole situation. To give more insight into the external players outside of the New York Times. Or even to have grappled with the fact that the same newspaper kept this exact story under wraps and away from prying eyes in the years previous, meaning that they themselves were to blame for people’s pain. This is something that previously mentioned film, Spotlight, did in fact wrestle openly with, and it was ultimately better for it.
After all, like I mentioned, this isn’t a film about perfect people. Quite the opposite in fact.
So to go back to my previous question: is She Said successful? That could even be rephrased into, is it even good? I would say yes, and give a hearty recommendation for anyone looking to get lost in a tale of this kind. Full of fervor, righteousness, and the uncovering of depravity, this investigative journalism film will hit that spot you’re hoping it does. It would just be nice if it dug in a little deeper.
Score: 8/10
She Said is currently playing in theaters
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