'She Said' Attempts to Give Women a Voice
But its noble intentions can't compensate for mediocre artistry
I caught wind of She Said (the movie based on the autobiographical book of the same name) more than a year before its release, and I eagerly anticipated its arrival in theaters. As someone who has been writing about actor exploitation in the entertainment industry for almost a decade, the topic of this film is right up my alley.
Evidently, the world at large had different sentiments than I did: after its opening weekend, the film had acquired a paltry $2.2 million dollars. It was beaten even by The Chosen’s third season (the first two episodes of which premiered in theaters), which garnered more than $8 million dollars on that same weekend.
She Said has been called one of the biggest box office flops in history. And as Deadline writer Michael Cieply notes, “When a film as heavily promoted and well-regarded as Universal’s She Said gets body-slammed at the box office, it’s wise to pay attention.” Cieply does a good job of “paying attention” in his article; for my part, I will limit myself to reviewing the movie on its own merits.
As a reminder, I rate movies based on three criteria: Content (C), Artistry (A), and Preference (P). (C-A-P. Get it?) As a further reminder, I no longer provide an aggregate score at the end of my reviews (the reason for which I explain here).
Content (C): 9 out of 10
Hollywood films about sexual exploitation tend to utilize pornographic filming techniques even as they condemn exploitation. Two recent examples include Cuties and Blonde. And yet even with the subject matter of She Said, the filmmakers dutifully avoid sexually objectifying any of their characters, or their actors. In an of itself, this is worth noting—and praising.
In the film, we do hear testimonies from some of Weinstein’s victims (and their descriptions can be hard to listen to), but they are handled without even leaning in a gratuitous direction, choosing sympathy over exploitation. Still, the subject matter of the film is inappropriate for young audiences.
The reason for the film’s R rating is the use of strong language in two forms: the descriptions of sexual assault mentioned above, and the use of over a dozen f-bombs. Regarding the latter: these words could easily have been excised without the narrative losing any dramatic impact (especially considering that the source material—all 320 pages of it—contains only/roughly 6 f-words in total).
Some commentators have gone so far as to accuse the film of whitewashing the narrative, in that it “gives a pass” to countless individuals who failed to act on their knowledge of Weinstein’s behavior. This is baffling for at least two reasons.
First, the film’s production involved both Jodi Kantor and Megan Twohey (who wrote the book the film is based on, which details their story), as well as Ashley Judd and Gwyneth Paltrow, both of which were Weinstein’s victims. If anyone would not be okay with whitewashing this story, it would be the women who were actually involved in the events being portrayed.
Second, both the book and the film detail what Kantor and Twohey discovered during their investigation—not the countless revelations and developments that took place after they broke the Weinstein story. Even when Kantor and Megan published their initial piece (which is where the movie ends), they still didn’t know how far the rabbit hole went. Demanding that a movie about their experiences include events and revelations outside their experiences makes no sense; it reveals more about the misguided expectations of potential audiences than the movie itself.
In any case, accusations of whitewashing give the appearance, if not the reality, of sloppy partisan hackery.
Artistry (A): 6 out of 10
Generally speaking, She Said is a faithful book-to-film adaptation. In one sense, it improves on the source material by jettisoning the last chunk of the book that deals with the allegations against Brett Kavanaugh (which is tacked onto the main narrative of the book without sufficient justification).
As Scott Renshaw notes, the beginning of the film “effectively sets the stage for the investigation just months after the revelations about Donald Trump’s predations yielded no consequences, making it reasonable for women to assume their voices would be ignored or silenced.” Some might consider the inclusion of Donald Trump at the beginning as cheap political grandstanding, but the true-to-life story includes reporter Megan Twohey finishing up her investigation of the sexual allegations against Trump before helping Jodi Kantor with her Weinstein investigation. These are real-life events, not “artistic license” fabrications.
Not every element of the story lands with equal efficacy, though. For example, as James Berardinelli notes, “although the movie emphasizes that Weinstein is a symptom of a larger and more far reaching cancer, it never brings that home in a meaningful fashion.” And as can often be the case, a film that sticks close to the facts (with little narrative restructuring for the medium of film) can sometimes lack the dramatic punch needed for a rewarding cinematic experience.
The highlight of the film is its stellar cast, especially Zoe Kazan (Jodi Kantor) and Carey Mulligan (Megan Twohey). Also of note is some excellent voice casting, with James Austin Johnson as Donald Trump, Keilly McQuail as Rose McGowan, and Mike Houston as Harvey Weinstein. (Evidently, while Gwyneth Paltrow doesn’t appear onscreen, she does lend her voice to a few phone calls in which the actors interact with her.)
In spite of the caliber of its actors, She Said does not give the luster of a legitimate Oscar contender—and certainly not for Best Picture. If anything, the film feels more made-for-TV than anything else, the cinematography being especially pedestrian. Artistically, this movie falls below the similarly-themed Spotlight and The Assistant.
Late in the film, there’s a scene where reporter Megan Twohey faces off with Harvey Weinstein and his team in a New York Times conference room. Everyone except Twohey is talking at once, accusing her of everything under the sun. The camera slowly pushes in toward her face as she just sits there, taking an emotional beating from every side. This is supposed to be a dramatic moment, but it falls flat; it robs Weinstein of his dominating presence, turning the inherent drama of the real-life confrontation (described in the book) into a free-for-all involving a bunch of adults acting like petulant children. This scene may be a good summary of the film as a whole: genuine in its intentions, but stumbling in its execution.
Preference (P): 6 out of 10
I was sympathetic to the plight of actors like Ashley Judd and Gwyneth Paltrow before I even knew about their specific situations. My 2014 piece “Hollywood’s Secret Rape Culture” communicates the posture I took on this matter years before Weinstein’s name became a cultural byword. And because of my sympathies, I was primed to support a story like She Said.
This movie does give room for Weintsein’s victims to breathe—and to speak. It gives voice to women who, until recently, felt as if they had no voice. Hearing from them (via a dramatization) brought tears to my eyes on more than one occasion. In spite of the film’s artistic deficiencies, the pathos of the story affected me emotionally—at least, on occasion.
She Said nobly seeks to humanize the women involved in this story—not only the victims, but also the reporters who investigated Weinstein’s abuses. But a movie needs more than sympathetic characters to tell an engaging story; it needs more than just a series of interviews and dead-ends to make for an engaging narrative.
True, I was never bored—but “I was never bored” isn’t how I would want to praise a film like this. Regrettably, that’s the best praise I can give it.
I had high hopes for the film and it's definitely on my watch list. Sorry to hear it didn't live up to expectations ...still interested to experience the story first-hand.