She Said
Synopsis: Based on the New York Times investigation that exposed Harvey Weinstein’s sexual harassments and assaults. Reporters Megan Twohey and Jodi Kantor track down victims and witnesses, facing an uphill battle getting people to go on record against the powerful movie producer. (Streaming on Amazon as of June 2023)
So, Harvey Weinstein can best be described as a pile of sh**. Numerous firsthand accounts have described his behavior as a sexual predator and the boss from hell. While I flinched from watching a movie about his utter grossness, She Said spares us recreations of crimes, focusing instead on the quiet thrill of investigative journalism a la Spotlight, one of filmdoms best looks at the profession.
In 2016, New York Times’ journalists Megan Twohey and Jodi Kantor began following up on accounts of Miramax Studio’s Harvey Weinstein sexually assaulting women staff and actresses. The Times had killed an earlier story (under another editor) and Ronan Farrow was working on a piece for The New Yorker. She Said is based on Twohey and Kantor’s book of the same name.
Megan Twohey is played by Carey Mulligan (so good in so many productions: An Education, Far from the Madding Crowd and Promising Young Woman). Megan is hard-driving and unflappable. Zoe Kazan (excellent in Ruby Sparks and The Plot Against America) as Jodi Kantor is quiet and dogged. Both women juggle the demands of careers and raising children. Jodi seems to be a pro at multitasking, with hugs for the kids while grabbing work calls. Megan is bold, fiercely shutting down a jerk who tries to interrupt her work meeting at a tavern (sadly, IRL women can’t know the safety of telling men to f***off). She is also a new mom, tending to her baby while dealing with postpartum depression. Maybe the book by Kantor & Twohey gets into this with more nuance, but in the movie, Twohey is seemingly cured of her PPD by ditching maternity leave and getting back to her demanding job.
Partners of movie leads usually get short shrift and I can’t say that the husbands have much in the way of personalities here, but Tom Pelphrey (as Megan’s husband, Jim) and Adam Shapiro (Ron Lieber, Jodi’s spouse) at least acquit the spouses nicely as responsible and caring family members.
It’s no surprise that investigative journalists on a potentially big story are very busy. Megan and Jodi are on their respective cell phones a lot, trying to track down background and –without much success early on– get people to go on record. The women who want to tell their stories are understandably afraid of Weinstein using his wealth and power to excoriate them in the media and sue them in court. Still others signed non-disclosure agreements. And what do you know, bullying and lying aren’t beneath Weinstein when it comes to attempting to squelch the investigation.
But Jodi and Megan power on, driving around the five boroughs and Long Island to interview women. They also fly off to the UK and California to approach victims afraid to go on the record with their accounts of sexual assault. Hotel rooms were a typical place for his “work meetings” with women staff and actresses. One particularly poignant story concerns a woman, Laura Madden (played as an older woman by a spectacular Jennifer Ehle), who was sexually assaulted by Weinstein when she was a staffer in her early twenties. Part of Weinstein’s MO was insisting on a massage like it was a regular work task, then telling the basically pre-selected prey to watch him shower. Uhh, impossible to be anything other than disgusted, but what did he care? He’d physically intimidate and force them unless they could find an opportunity to run from the room.
One of the actresses who was fairly public in accounting her assault was Rose McGowan. She maintains to the journalists that she told lots of people and nobody cared or did anything. Weinstein’s moves included character assassination and paying off women who filed civil suits.* This is where we get into he said/she said. People can fall into camps of ‘never’ or ‘always’ in believing accusers. But following a listen and verify tactic–employed by officers of the law and journalists– the evidence keeps stacking up against Weinstein.
One of my fave witnesses is the Miramax accountant Irwin Reiter, portrayed by Zach Grenier as a world weary guy who’s sick of being a Weinstein lackey. It’s all cloak & dagger stuff. Megan meets up with him in out-of-the-way restaurants where he slugs back drinks while repeatedly looking over his shoulder. One time, he pointedly leaves his cell phone on the table, stands up, looks at Megan and back down to his phone before informing her that he’ll be going to the restroom for a while. Another time, he does one of those tropes wherein the guy learns some devastating news, whips off his glasses, stares into the void and whispers, my god…
Megan and Jodi keep coaxing the actresses they interview to go on the record, but no one wants to be the first. The journalists have a meeting with Gwyneth Paltrow. Subconsciously, I sat up straighter & fluffed my hair, as if I was also going to be introduced to Gwynnie at her Hamptons estate. Alas, we don’t get to meet the GOOP guru. We do, however, see Ashley Judd (Double Jeopardy, Dolphin Tale 2 and The Divergent Series) as Ashley Judd. She has a frightening account of Weinstein’s sex for work proposition. Speaking of which…
In one phone call to the New York Times, a rageful Weinstein keeps asking if they have “talked to Gwyneth.” In an interview after She Said was released, the journalists opine that he was so interested in that because he had told other actresses whom he was sexually harassing that they could have what Gwyneth “had” (movie stardom, an Oscar) if they had sex with him. Turns out, he never had sex with her, consensual or not. Ms. Paltrow learned during the newspaper investigation that Weinstein was falsely telling actresses that she agreed to sex with him in exchange for film work. Lies!* *
As the film proceeds, Weinstein and his lawyers are throwing their weight around. Fortunately, the reporters’ Pulitzer-winning editors have their backs: Investigative Department Editor, Rebecca Corbett (Particia Clarkson) and Executive Editor, Dean Bacquet (Andre Braugher). Ms. Corbett shepherds her reporters, advising them during the day and editing at night. She wears big necklaces, chunky ropes of polished river stones, hunks of crystals and industrial-size silver links. I knew she was going beyond her usual eighteen hour days when we see her at home in pajamas, on her laptop and –gasp– no heavy duty necklace. Meanwhile, Mr. Bacquet runs a masterclass in how to run a meeting. When Weinstein goes straight to the top, figuring he can leverage his power to control the story, the chief editor calmly tells him to talk to his reporters and hangs up. Later, Weinstein is joined by a cadre of lawyers on a group call with NYT staff, stalling for time. “We are going to push the button. Get a statement to us.” Afterall, he’s a busy man: he has a paper to publish.
Now, action movie directors have it easy getting audience’s hearts racing with foot chases and car races. Filmmakers of exposes don’t have it so easy. Fingers flying across keyboards, hastily jotted notes (Where’s a pen?!) aren’t quite as exciting, but when push comes to shove and the editors and writers do a final group read through, director Maria Shrader will have you calling do it! as the arrow icon hovers over ‘Publish.’
After seeing She Said, I felt thankful to the women who told their stories, risking careers and sacrificing privacy, and to the free press that investigated because it wasn’t inevitable that Weinstein would be held accountable on any level; any more than its inevitable that societies view women as unequal to men. I mean, is being allowed to do your job without being sexually harassed too much to ask?
* In the United States, criminal case convictions must have jury consensus that the crime occurred “beyond a reasonable doubt.” Civil case standards are based on a “preponderance of the evidence.” According to data reported by the Central MN Sexual Assault Center: if a rape is reported, there is a 50.8% chance of arrest, 80% chance of prosecution and 58% chance of conviction.
** Paltrow told the NYT (in 2017) that Weinstein had bullied and sexually harssed her when she was 22 y.o. and cast in a Miramax movie (Emma). He insisted she have a “work meeting” with him at a hotel. She says he put his hands on her and suggested they move to the bedroom for a massage. Keep in mind, this was not someone who was hiring a masseur. When she refused, he subjected her to a long tirade of screaming. Later, Paltrow told her then boyfriend, Brad Pitt. Pitt confronted Weinstein at a Broadway premiere, telling him, “If you ever make her feel uncomfortable again, I’ll kill you.” Well… Weinstein had no comeback–guess he was just used to cornering women in rooms.
P.S. Subsequent stories and #metoo accounts underscored that the entertainment industry has a systemic problem with sexual exploitation of women. Among the actresses who gave accounts of sexual harassment and abuse (after initial publication) were: Annabella Sciorra, Mira Sorvino, Salma Hayek, Asia Argento and Uma Thurman.
P.P.S. In 2018, Jodi Kantor, Meghan Twohey and Ronan Farrow (for The New Yorker) were recipients of the Pulitzer Prize for Public Service for their investigative reporting on Weinstein’s sexual harassments.
P.P.S.S. In 2020, Harvey Weinstein was convicted of felony rape charges in New York and sentenced to 23 years in prison. He was subsequently convicted in California of rape and sentenced to 16 years in prison.
Movie Loon 
Nice one!.
This is what I think of it
Great article, thank you for sharing!
Ely
LikeLiked by 1 person