She Said

She Said

New York Times reporters Megan Twohey and Jodi Kantor break one of the most important stories in a generation — a story that helped launch the #MeToo movement and shattered decades of silence around the subject of sexual assault in Hollywood.

  • Released: 2022-11-17
  • Runtime: 129 minutes
  • Genre: Drama
  • Stars: Zoe Kazan, Carey Mulligan, Patricia Clarkson, Andre Braugher, Jennifer Ehle, Samantha Morton, Angela Yeoh, Tom Pelphrey, Adam Shapiro, Maren Heary, Sean Cullen, Anastasia Barzee, Keilly McQuail, Hilary Greer, Tina WongLu, Nancy Ellen Shore, Wesley Holloway, Stephen Dexter, Ruby Thomas, Emma Clare O'Connor, Brad Neilley, Stephanie Heitman, Jason Hewitt, Sujata Eyrick, Justine Colan, Steven Bitterman, Liam Edwards, Norah Feliciano, Kareemeh Odeh, Anita Sabherwal, Kelly Rian Sanson, Lauren Yaffe, George Walsh, Dalya Knapp, Maren Lord, Elle Graham
  • Director: Maria Schrader
 Comments
  • Thebeta99 - 24 March 2024
    Painfully earnest
    I am a woman. I know how important the takedown of Weinstein was. I read all about it at the time. It seems many reviewers are rating the importance of this story. I am rating the film.

    There are "rules" to writing a compelling story. By tracking so closely to a book of non-fiction, this film fails to follow those rules and is therefore unsatisfying.

    1) Too little backstory about the two journalists (or anyone). We see them already working on important stories. Why should we care about them? Or are they simply vessels? If it's the latter, then we shouldn't have seen their home life at all, and we should have learned more about the lives of a few of Weinstein's victims.

    2) There is no conflict. The largest potential conflict - will the NYT print a story on such a powerful man - was resolved instantly. The concern that Ronan Farrow would publish first was also briskly tossed aside. Husbands were 100% available and supportive - an obvious place there could have been conflict, considering both journalists have small children.

    3) There is no discernible climax.

    4) There is no wit. Virtually no humor, as an occasional release valve (I can think of two times, when Twoohey swears in public, which seem to be intended as humor, but both scenes miss the mark for me.) Some will disagree that there should be wit in something this heavy, but think about your favorite dramatic film and I guarantee you'll remember a line that made you laugh through the tears.

    5) There is no subplot, which could have added dimension. Subplots are dangled, teased. Twoohey's pregnancy started out as a subplot, and she might have had postpartum depression, but once that concern is briskly resolved, the baby disappears from the story.

    Another frustration: We have three major female journalist characters and none of them take a moment to relay a personal experience where they felt objectified or harassed. They act as if they had no idea these things really happen. Unfortunately, that is simply not credible. This was a huge missed opportunity to differentiate them from male journalists.

    Mulligan and Kazan do an excellent job with what they are given. They created distinct characters out of whole cloth. I never thought Patricia Clarkson was capable of being dull, but here she is understated to the point of invisibility - a directorial choice, I'm certain. Braugher was treated equally poorly.

    I suspect the filmmakers were wary of accusations that they were exploiting Weinstein's victims, or being hypocrites by making a Hollywood movie about this Hollywood travesty, so they took this low key, movie-of-the-week approach. Perhaps the better choice would be to not make the movie (yet.) News accounts, the original book, documentaries, and podcasts could serve to educate the uninformed until enough time had passed to make a proper dramatic film.
  • Kazs-angel - 9 September 2023
    Absolutely brilliant must watch film!
    This is not the kind of film I would usually watch but I'm so glad I did! Finally, the truth which has haunted, scarred and shaped the lives of so many women, both unknown and well know actresses around the world, some for decades. Definitely a must watch film made even better by the cameo appearances of some of the well known actresses who Harvey Weinstein abused, telling their side of the story. And the bravery of the two New York Time journalists who exposed Harvey Weinstein is astonishing. Hoping the exposing of this kind of sexual abuse will stop it ever happening to other women as well. At least it's a start.
  • ant_net - 6 June 2023
    Almost lost me in the beginning
    I thought it was done well except for the point when they started out going in on Trump, I thought it was unnecessary and once again, I felt it was being politicized. I felt it was better serve to stick to the Weinstein things, and the brave women that stood up for the way they were victimized. I'm glad he's in jail. He's a horrible individual abuse of power.. I would've gave it a 10 if it wasn't for starting off with the other crap acting was great and I'm happy for all the women that can feel vindicated. It was an entertaining watch.. I'm shocked that Miramax allow this to go on for so long, allowing him to abuse his power.
  • alex_with_a_P - 31 December 2022
    Doesn't tell the full story
    Based on the book by by Towhey and Kantor, this movie felt a little bit too self-centered towards the journalists and too little towards the victims. And it shies away to show the larger cogs of systematic sexualism within the film industry and even the NY Times itself. But why am I not surprised that a Hollywood movie isn't too harsh on itself and puts the blame mostly on one guy, meanwhile we all know there are hundreds like him still in the studio system. The movie makes it look like this huge win (for the journalists) meanwhile even the movie isn't interested about the fate of the victims. One of the witnesses, Laura Madden played by a fantastic Jennifer Ehle is about to go into a life-threatening surgery (because of breast cancer). Just for dramatic effect she'll give her okay to publish her story, right before she gets wheeled into the OP room trope. But the last time we saw her she didn't look reluctant to cooperate, in fact she was the only one who seemed eager to go ahead with her story. There's a lot of this hollow drama, not only does the movie puts the main focus on the journalists who starts crying for getting published (which comes off selfish in context with the cancer patient) but the movie doesn't even bother to tell us if Laura Madden survived her operation or the cancer.

    The other scene I found problematic when one of the reporters tells an unsuspecting husband that her wife was sexually assaulted in her work place decades ago. A very irresponsible action and the movie almost was brave enough to give one of their characters a flaw by realizing what she has done. But no, they brush it off instantly as her friend assures her she did the right thing. Of course the movie never follows up with the husband and wife who are left with the shards of this mess.

    And that's one of my issues, for me both journalists came off selfish, they never consider ramifications or made moral decisions that could hurt their story. That's why the movie tries this clumsy attempt to show a chad in a bar who harasses the them, this scene came out of nowhere. At least it should have happened in their work place which is much closer to the truth. The movie plays it very loose when it comes to the facts, Rose McGowan played a much bigger part than the movie makes it out to be.

    My biggest gripe though is that the NY Times was actually one of the villains in this story (together with NBC), it was them who sat on the Weinstein story for ten years. Not only that but they squashed it themselves when Sharon Waxman was investigating it in 2004. Ronan Farrow from the New Yorker was in fact the journalist who put the pressure on the Weinstein case. And some victims didn't even want to talk with the NY Times at the time because they knew that they have already buried the story six years ago. The Times only went ahead to publish when their hand was forced because of Farrow's article that was about to get released in the upcoming weeks.

    Now I know there is artistic freedom and a movie needs to dramatize certain events, but a movie has a certain responsibility to stay true to the main story. It's dishonest work like this that hurts the metoo movement more than it helps.

    Not only that but the Times had their own problems with sexual harassment and they kept those persons in the company regardless (Glenn Thrush). This would have made for a much more powerful ending, since the job is far from 'done' yet, but it's just the beginning. The movie truly lacked vision and objectivity. I'm sure this won't stop the movie getting showered in irrelevant awards come Oscar season in a couple of months.

    So yeah it's too small in scope, too many loose ends, not very exciting and overall too dishonest with the events.

    I agree with the movie on one thing: It is an important story.

    But it also deserved a better movie.
  • Genti25 - 21 December 2022
    Unfathomable Bravery
    A few years ago a female friend of mine casually mentioned that one day when she was twelve and biking around the neighborhood, a grown man made sexually explicit comments to her. This kind of came as a shock to me at first but she didn't even seem phased by it. This encounter came up randomly as part of an everyday conversation we were having and, looking back at it, the most shocking part of the story was my reaction to it. Because now I have fully opened my eyes to the horrors of unwanted sexual comments and actions that women face from a very, very, young age.

    While watching She Said, I had this passing thought about what the world would be like if Harvey Weinstein was the only one of his kind. If what happened here was the only instance of anything of this sort happening. Not just the abuse of power aspect of it all, but the constant degradation and use of women as objects to fulfill some devious need. Perhaps in that world, there wouldn't be so many people immediately rating movies like this with the lowest score possible because they feel personally offended in some way. What is it about discussing the experience of women that offends men so much? What is it about the patriarchy that rubs off on some women and pushes them to call other women liars at once?

    She Said is a wonderfully directed film that delves deep into some of the ins and outs of the 'Me Too' movement at its conception. The wonderful work of all journalists, namely Megan Twohey and Jodi Kantor is to be complimented to no end. They helped bring forth a much-needed shift in attitude, though unfortunately, some mindsets will never truly change. One of my favorite films of the year and I sure hope more people actually watch it and take it seriously rather than ignore it and hate it for speaking truth to power.
  • kerimleben - 17 December 2022
    boring
    This not a movie its a documnentary ,its cheap i mean they could not find a actor who looked like harvey?

    It should 've been done with harvey doing his thing with no explicit stuff obviously and reporters are doing there own thing in the background ,its just 2 reporters trying to frame this guy and seems like this guy is ghost which we don't see on the screen even as an actor,how lazy how cheap how stupid this movie was done,,,no court room drama no nothing,,i had to fast forward to some exciting parts which there were none,,shame on you for giving this piece of work 4 stars.,i wasted my time,,and the budget was 30 mil ? For what.
  • Megan_Shida - 11 December 2022
    Doesn't Rise to Importance of Source Material But Still Good
    No one is unaware of the #metoo movement at this point, although there are still some important details here that may be new to viewers. The film tells the story of a very important historical moment but I'm not sure it always succeeds in its dramatization. Despite great acting and and an important story, I often felt like the actors were simply telling me important details and why they mattered, rather than letting them play out across the film. I guess this can be a difficult thing to balance in a procedural journalism movie but I think the director/writers could have trusted their audience more to follow the story and to take away the important historical messages.
  • zac-04879 - 7 December 2022
    Not Necessarily a Feminist Movie; Please Have an Open Mind
    This biographical drama isn't about the entire formation of the #MeToo movement or the 82 women who came forward with their allegations against Harvey Weinstein; it's simply a drama on investigative journalism. We've seen plenty of biography-dramas and powerful historical movies to expect a film revolving around this shocking case to go to production at some point. Alike the movie Bombshell in 2019 however, there isn't a big gap between the case and the releasing of the true-story film, definitely making for an interesting watch for viewers in 2022.

    Directed by Maria Schrader and written by Rebecca Lenkiewicz, the film depicts the story behind the publishing of the Harvey Weinstein sexual assault allegations article which became popular around the world in 2017. It's amazing by itself the fact that these are only the events behind The New York Times publishing the story, considering it's the small-dot beginning on the timeline of this case. She Said looks at the journalists Megan Twohey and Jodi Kantor, as they dig deeper into the case, making plenty of phone calls that are followed by never-ending denials and rejections.

    The biggest compliment you could probably ever give to a cast is to say their work was so convincing and talented, that you forgot you weren't watching actual events unfold, and that is absolutely the case with She Said. It's not the highlights of their careers, but actresses Carey Mulligan's and Zoe Kazan's performances are extremely lifelike and never go over-the-top. Production-wise, the film is also crafted superbly. Schrader does an excellent job behind the camera. Despite some feminist content, it doesn't feel like too much like a feminist film, but it's about exposing Harvey Weinstein and how the #MeToo movement began.

    Unfortunately, this movie isn't near the point of perfection, as there are so many issues that require improvement. It's mainly the very slow pacing and the fact that so much of it could've been cut to make a shorter, more enjoyable watch. She Said is definitely an example though, of how despite a movie being a slow-burner and the details not being presented quickly, it has you captivated and completely intrigued in the story the whole time, which makes this movie worth a watch, and definitely one you'll find riveting, powerful and very watchable.

    If you liked this review, check out the full review and other reviews at aussieboyreviews.
  • levybob - 5 December 2022
    Good. Not great. But Absolutely Worth Watching.
    'She Said' is a good film. Well produced, well filmed, acted, and paced. It is also based on the truth: the taking down of movie mogul Harvey Weinstein by two New York Times Reporters (played by Zoe Kazan and Carey Mulligan) who investigate and document the allegations against him.

    The film is more about the 'How' of reporting than the 'What' that is being reported. And so if it is not as thrilling as it might be, it does not have thrills as its goals. We do not see the sexual harassment taking place. Much of the film involves stories told, not shown. And, as such, it might not be for all audiences. It was, however, for me.

    Mulligan and Kazan are excellent as two New York women leading everyday New York lives with families and everyday stresses, who suddenly are catapulted into a larger than life situation. Patricia Clarkson is always good. Here she is both great and understated as the editor who provides calm and reason to the younger reporters. Andre Braugher as the Times' Editor in Chief is the boss that everyone would hope for; the boss, the father, even the partner.

    And so, again, a good movie. No guns. No shouting. No sex. Little suspense (after all we already know that Weinstein was convicted). Even so, well worth the time, the seeing.

    So long as your expectations are appropriate.
  • gortx - 30 November 2022
    Solid, well told journalism film. Excellent supporting performances
    It's hard to overstate the impact the 2017 N. Y. Times and The New Yorker's concurrent bombshell articles about Harvey Weinstein's sexual harassment and assault accusations had not only on Hollywood, but the corporate world in general. Director Maria Schrader's SHE SAID is an effective take on the Times' reportage centering on two of the writers of the piece, Jodi Kantor (Zoe Kazan) and Megan Twohey (Carey Mulligan).

    Rebecca Lenkiewicz' screenplay takes a personalized viewpoint on the events. Kantor and Twohey are working mothers who have to balance their professional and personal lives while also bringing that perspective to their investigation of Weinstein's misconduct. The third writer on the article, Rebecca Corbit (Patricia Clarkson), is seen as more of the seasoned editorial hand in the process.

    All three actresses are steely and steady, without the histrionics often associated with dramas based on true events. Their characters are all about understanding, compassion and getting the facts right. What truly elevates the movie are the performances of the accusers in the case. Ashley Judd gets the headlines in the resultant article (she plays herself here), but, it's Angela Yeoh, Jennifer Ehle and Samantha Morton as a trio of lesser known assistants who really bring home the human cost of Weinstein's brutality. Ehle and Morton in particular, are exceptional, creating true flesh and blood women with a minimum of screen time. One gets a true sense not only of careers ruined, but, of lives irrevocably altered. Anastasia Barzee makes an effective villain as a win at all cost Weinstein lawyer (Lisa Bloom). Andre Braugher is strong as NY Times executive editor Dean Baquet.

    Schrader's Direction is solid, but never showy. She keeps the focus on the performances and journalism angle --and film is all the more effective for it. Perhaps more of a delay in time could have been warranted here, and there are some extraneous issues brought in. The movie was released with Weinstein on trial in Los Angeles. An argument could be made that some perspective would grow over time, but there is no doubt that SHE SAID states its case assuredly and with impact.