Overlooked Inventory 2: “She Said”

Comparisons with “Spotlight” are apt, but “She Said” is set in a lower key and no less devastating in its conclusion. Expanding on an article about sexual harassment in the workplace, we follow two New York Times reporters as they follow leads investigating the extensive and systematic assaults of Harvey Weinstein. 

Maria Shrader ably focuses on the work of tracking leads and the attempts to encourage women to step forward with their stories. Read that sentence again, particularly the “encourage women to step forward with their stories” because this is the crux of the issues. Weinstein sexually assaulted dozens of women in his time and all were browbeaten or traumatized into silence. By dozens, let me be clear: 82 women came forward with allegations against Weinstein. Sit with that for a bit: 82. We could well assume there were more that we will never know about.

To be sure, while the Weinstein debacle is the center of the film and a large part of the reason for the #MeToo movement, the film itself stands as a document that I hope will loom large over the cinematic landscape that the larger context is far from over. Workplace assault, harassment is too small a word in many circumstances, continues and as with rape, continues to be underreported because of the threats of reprisal, be it physical, legal, or professional. But let’s get realer: the underreporting is a symptom of male dominated industries and, well, for that matter, a still-male-dominated society. 

It would be helpful if more men watched this film with some degree of empathy to get some idea of what women go through every damn day. Let me digress and quote a strong female character:

“I’m great at controlling my anger. I do it all the time. When I’m catcalled in the street. When incompetent men explain my own area of expertise to me. I do it pretty much every day because if I don’t I will be called emotional or difficult or…might just literally get murdered.”

Jen Warner, aka She-Hulk from the series “She-Hulk: Attorney-at-Law

Why would I use a fictional character to fold into a non-fiction film review? Because it is art and things can be conveyed by art with far more effectiveness than a thousand treatises. “She Said” is art and so, too, for that matter, is “She-Hulk: Attorney-at-Law” and both are addressing the balance of power between the sexes, not just in the workplace but across the full spectrum of societal interaction.

This film is a long time coming and that it is able to cover the territory it does in little over two hours is something like a miracle. Given the talent involved, that shouldn’t be surprising. Carey Mulligan and Zoe Kazan deliver two of the most riveting performances of quite literally, heroic proportions that give us some idea of the degree of sensitivity (and frustration) that the women they represent must have utilized and felt throughout the assignment. 

Jodi Kantor (Kazan) is the lead on what seemed to begin as a one-woman job but is joined by veteran reporter Megan Twohey (Mulligan) who had covered Trump throughout the campaign, hammering at his misogyny and openness about it. Like many of us, she took it as a given that his pussy-grabbing would sink him. And like many of us, she is crestfallen when it quickly appeared to have no effect, at all.

Rebecca Lenkiewicz shaped one of the most compelling screenplays off Kantor and Twohey’s book “She Said” as well as their reporting, along with Rebecca Corbett’s (the ever remarkable Patricia Clarkson) reporting and guidance. It’s a strong piece of work and I’d recommend studying it as a lesson on how drama comes together in performance as both art and activism. To be super clear: I’m not saying this is an activist or didactic film. Quite the opposite; it’s art, desperately and triumphantly moving art. I was a better person for seeing it and if you’re baffled about why it’s taken this long for me to write about it, well, you’re not the only one.

The problem for me in essaying a work like “She Said” is that I may wind up being the preachy one. This is very far from the “eat your greens” sense that sometimes bedevils movies whose messages are profound and/or timely. However, like “Spotlight” and “All the President’s Men”, “She Said” will keep you engaged on a number of fronts. 

I know I said it’s lower key than “Spotlight” but that doesn’t mean to lead people to infer that it’s slower pace or less gripping in its storytelling. The lower pitch refers more to the equally high stakes involved with an even smaller team. Andre Braugher is on hand as senior editor Dean Rupert, turning in one of his typically assured turns (we don’t see enough of the guy on the big screen.)

Most of all, though, what I have in mind is how a more deliberate pace is employed to land punches in a series of successive reveals. On the one hand, you have the uphill battle both Kantor and Twohey had to fight; in some cases, just to see people, let alone get any time with them, let alone to get anyone to commit to being on the record. On the other, when the various women do come forward, it initially reads like a Hail Mary pass; but after you sit with it for a bit, you realize that the work has paid off. And you may ask, well, how could it not? All those women just needed to come together. That’s where a large part of the conflict resides, perhaps all of it.

When you’ve been attacked, and I’m speaking as a guy, your body goes into overdrive; andrenals fire, you shake - either fight or flight, sometimes you freeze up like a deer in the headlights. What I have in mind is in a controlled environment; a martial arts class or a match. Sure, your training should kick in and there is the tacit understanding that at the end of the day, the only consequence is bruised ribs and ego.

Now, take away the “safe environment” part of this. I guarantee that most people are not going to walk away with mere bruises and more than likely the sheer suddenness of violence and intentional violation of your well-being is going to be shaken. Probably for some time afterward. 

Let’s up the wattage; your livelihood, your professional standing, your family, your future, your very day-to-day existence is threatened by not giving into your aggressor. If you don’t allow him to violate you and do to you whatever he wants, your life is done. Right down to your sense of who you are, your sense of agency is stripped from you, and your very identity is in question. 

Multiply that by dozens of women. Years after the fact, most remain scarred and no longer working in their chosen field now grown toxic and ash-covered. Many have had to reinvent themselves but all of them - all of them - had to deal with humiliation, shame, and unfounded guilt. All of them had to find some way to address the fear, frustration, and rage that resulted from these encounters with a power-holding man.

Can you imagine? I can, but it remains too abstract for me; one can say, we’ve all had traumatic things happen to us, but that’s a frivolous perspective to assume by someone who would want to downplay what is visited upon half the human family as a matter of course, in altogether too many societies, including ours. So, yeah, this is where “She Said” excels. 

There is no graphic content to speak of. “Only” the aftermath of an encounter with this man, and that is as devastating as anything you might see in Aronofsky’s “Requiem for a Dream” or Gaspar Noe’s “Irreversible”; that aftermath ruined lives.

We never see Harvey from the face; only a lumbering presences shot from behind and at a distance. We do hear his voice and the effect, by the time we hear it, is frankly, triggering. The Times team agreed to give Weinstein adequate time to respond before the story drops and along the way, a portrait emerges of a man driven by power and not much else, to control women more than anything else. I could almost literally believe that Weinstein’s sole reason for being the mogul he became was to simply humiliate and subjugate every woman he met. I don’t know why. I doubt he does. I also don’t really care, especially having watched his downfall play out in the press and again, in this film.

Natasha Braier’s cinematography amplifies the intimacy of the various meetings and conversations that are the film’s cement. This is a stark contrast to her visually stunning work in Tom Ford’s “The Neon Demon” (see it!). Of course, these are two very different films but Braier’s use of color to convey tone in character and how different areas contract and expand is subtle. 

In the early shut-out by Weinstein’s “ex-assistant in Queens”, you have a compressed sense of space in a neighborhood this woman just wanted to disappear in and be left alone. The rejection is understandable (the press showing up at your doorstep is just one more invasive pick at a scab far from healed over) and the framing is almost cubist. Later, as Kantor interviews Irwin Reiter (Zack Grenier running the gamut from “do you want to get me killed?” to “screw Harvey, bring him down”), one of Harvey’s ex-accountants, himself fearful of reprisals, the colors are darker and richer (they meet in a dramatically lit restaurant) with a significant abundance of red tones to signify that we’re getting hot, both in terms of the evidence he’s sharing but also, closer in terms of the heat this is going to bring down.)

There is no way to convey the lengths that Weinstein went to ensure that he faced no consequences for his actions. NDAs signed off on by an extensive number of his victims, his social connections with DA’s office quashed criminal complaints against him, and of course, the threats.

We also hear the frustration and anger in the voices of higher profile women that had been assaulted by Weinstein, most famously, Rose McGowan who had gone public a year before and who has been (righteously) angry that her claims fell on deaf ears, including having her story buried by the New York Times(1). That said, Ashley Judd (playing herself) and Laura Madden (Jennifer Ehle) came forward, agreeing to be quoted in Kantor and Twohey’s article. 

Judd’s performance is particularly moving because, well, there she is. Gwyntyth Paltrow and Lauren O’Connor(2) lend their voices and this only adds to the gravity of what Shrader’s film is conveying. Also, particularly affecting (with a story that encapsulates the depth and range of Weinstein’s depravity) is Rowena Chiu, the aftermath of whose assault I mentioned above. Played with sensitivity and depth both as a younger woman by Ashley Chiu and by Angela Yeoh in the present, we experience the full range of initial discomfort turning to dread turning to horror. The lead had come from Zelda Perkins (Samantha Morton, bringing a world-weariness you can practically feel as your own) who related the incident to Kantor. Ultimately, Kantor is unable to interview Rowena, but when she meets Chiu’s husband outside their home, you feel the depths to which Harvey’s rot has infected families; he is unaware of what happened to Rowena. As I said, each of these beats lands.

The remarkable thing is how there is nil melodrama in this film. There is no over-reacting, no grandstanding, no speeches. Even when the job impinges on Twohey’s and Kantor’s respective daily lives, the inconveniences are handled in an adult manner; no one complains about the reporters not paying attention to them. In fact, that might be the most understated bit of storytelling in the film; the men involved in the movie are presented as just regular human beings who actually listen and support what these women are doing. No one throws a fit, there are discussions and then moving on based on agreement. All of this is measured in stark contrast to Weinstein’s actions, denials, and threats. None of it is mounted in a particularly dramatic framing; that measured approach just simply shows that one thing is not like the other: masculinity need not be toxic. 

Shrader’s film accomplishes more than just spinning a gripping newsroom yarn depicting the downfall of one powerful man. The film began with the President of the United States being a known philanderer and abuser and while it ended with the imprisonment of one of Hollywood’s most powerful executives, it succeeded in showing how top-down our society is in not supporting women, especially when it comes to hearing them out about regarding their stories of abuse and assault. 

Yes, Weinstein is serving a 23 year sentence for rape and sexual assault in New York and yes, there are additional pending charges coming from other places; however, the question before us remains, how many more Trumps and Harveys are out there who will go on, likely not found out until much, much later, of ever?

Additionally, it’s important to recognize that the period documented in the film is not ancient history: the story dropped in October 2017. More have followed, but a sea change is still in order for much or the country. (3)

Notes

1. Rose McGowan had told then-head of Amazon Studios Roy Price that Weinstein had raped her when she was 23, but Price continued his partnership/collaboration with Weinstein. Price ignored her, as did the Times. Interestingly, predictably, Price resigned after allegations of sexual harassment came out about him.

2. “There is a toxic environment for women at this company” stated the letter the Times obtained, written by O’Connor. From The Guardian, October 5, 2017, she is “reported to have settled a claim against Weinstein…” Additionally, “O’Connor withdrew her complaint and thanked Weinstein for the career opportunity after reaching a settlement…” I can’t find any supporting evidence of this last but for a fuller scope of Lauren O’Connor’s place in the Weinstein case, see also, The Hollywood Reporter from December 8, 2022, “She Wrote the Memo That Helped Take Down Harvey Weinstein”, https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-features/harvey-weinstein-whistleblower-interview-lauren-oconnor-1235276169/amp/.

3. Having said that, it’s important to note that the ramifications of the case have had worldwide results. A good place to start is with the Wikipedia article, “Harvey Weinstein sexual abuse cases.” There is a plethora of sources, as well as a list of the women accusers by “Sexual harassment or assault” and “Rape.” https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harvey_Weinstein_sexual_abuse_cases.

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