Above: (from left) Jodi Kantor (Zoe Kazan), Megan Twohey (Carey Mulligan), Davram Stiefler (Rory Tolan), and Rebecca Corbett (Patricia Clarkson) in She Said, directed by Maria Schrader.
By Mark Fields
She Said tells the gripping saga of The New York Times reporters Megan Twohey (Carey Mulligan) and Jodi Kantor (Zoe Kazan) and their valiant attempts to uncover the Harvey Weinstein sexual abuse scandal in Hollywood. Filled with tense moments as the reporters struggle to convince Weinstein’s victims to come forward on the record, She Said is consistently dramatic and engaging. That speaks volumes about Maria Schrader’s taut direction and Kazan and Mulligan’s subtle yet compelling performances, as well as the powerful themes of the story. It is even more remarkable when you consider that we have seen this nearly exact movie done very, very well before – twice, in fact – with All The President’s Men in 1976 and much more recently in 2015 with Spotlight. The cast of characters, the settings, the narrative obstacles are all very familiar from prior movies. Nevertheless, the importance of this particular scandal and the courage of those women who risked so much to tell their stories (and the women that dared to write about it) overcomes the familiarity of the tropes to make She Said a stirring and satisfying film.
