Starts with an exterior filming set in Ireland in 1992, a young woman enter it with admiration and joy but ended up running in the middle of the streets devastatingly and frightfully in the next scene, "She Said (2022)" sets a suspenseful tone from the very beginning. As German director Maria Schrader's fourth solo directorial feature and first all-English-language movie, she took on this ambitious project about the infamous sexual assaults conducted by the top Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein which were investigated and disclosed by the persistent Pulitzer Prize-winning New York Times journalists Jodi Kantor and Megan Twohey and is based on their 2019 book "She Said: Breaking the Sexual Harassment Story That Helped Ignite a Movement" about the incident.
*Spoliers alert*
More than 20 years later of the opening scene, on the other side of Atlantic Ocean in New York City, Jodi and Megan were informed with an accusation of actresses sexually violated committed by a major Hollywood producer. First shut out by the non-disclosure settlements, with the heart and soul they thoroughly put into it and the full support of their supervisers, they eventually found a way in after several famous actresses came forward and confirmed themselves as also his victims. While getting to the core of it all, with the agreements of going public from Ashley Judd and a few women who were once Weinstein’s assistants, they got to finally put his hateful crimes that went on for decades to rest and earned the credit of the people behind the ignition of revealing and stopping sexual misconducts, promoting sex equality and starting a whole new evolution era of #metoo movement.
Following the press justice subject of muckraker and busting sex crimes of the Academy Award Best Picture winner "Spotlight (2015)," this story is based on the scandal that is much more globally known and still fresh in everyone’s memory. Schrader was hired most likely because of her recent Emmy Award-winning limited series "Unorthodox (2020)" which also shows the disadvantage of women (She made another movie "Ich bin dein Mensch (I'm Your Man) (2021)" which also conveys women rights in between these two projects.) and once again deliver another great actor-turned directorial effort which wastes nothing of the solid script by British screenwriter Rebecca Lenkiewicz.
The history and consequences are told engagingly without depending on too much dramatization. Besides having female main characters, director and screenwriter, the long-overdue female crew members, including Argentinian cinematographer Natasha Braier, also help bringing out the spirit of female strengths. Although it's hard to stand out in an acting-ensemble and topic-oriented piece, there are still quite a few impressive performances despite of their screen time. Carey Mulligan again demonstrated her acclaimed acting skill. The controlled emotion between being professional and showing compassion Megan had when facing one of the victims and the steady look when dealing with the bullies are worthy of another Academy Award nomination. Distinguished veteran actresses Samantha Morton and Jennifer Ehle also showed charisma in a limited scene or scenes. The multi-talented film legacy descendant Zoe Kazan interpreted Jodi's roller-coaster emotion changes as the investigation went on and can be considered by far her best performance. The most exhilarating appearance of all is the ever-bravely-outspoken Ashley Judd who played herself. She showed the powerful dedication that transcends acting alone with the scene in which she decided to become the first person to go public.
The pace is unfortunately slightly slow. For a movie featuring strong subject matters and journalism, it can go more smoothly in order to have an emotionally powerful last note. But the movie still shines from the first scene set in 1992 which could well likely be when Weinstein first started his criminal behavior until the last frame in which shows the click on 'publish' to reveal the truth that has rocked the world. Other than the obvious purpose of continuing to prevent any possibility for Weinstein to get away with his crimes, this clever full circle narrative structure, which is just like the world-changing incident that everyone has witnessed, still created another journalism movie based on a true story that lives on for years to come.
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