For the record, this is a positive review. My complaints are just more long-winded than my praise.
The breaking of the Harvey Weinstein scandal might be one of the most significant pieces of investigative journalism in my lifetime.
It exposed this seedy underbelly of Hollywood which felt like an open secret but few realised the horrific reality of it. After this followed the #MeToo movement and for a while it felt like we were entering a new era when it came to these issues. Of course things are still garbage and the world sucks, but it was a big step forward.
She Said tells the story of the two journalists, Jodi Kantor and Megan Twohey, who were the duo who wrote the New York Times article exposing everything. They wrote a book based on their experience in 2019, which now serves as the basis for the film adaptation.
Zoe Kazan and Carey Mulligan portray the two journalists and they do an excellent job. They're two of the best actresses working in Hollywood and their dynamic works incredibly well.
For a story that is essentially "Will you go on the record?" "No." "No? OK." For the majority of the runtime, between the two actors and the script, it's kept engaging for two hours, which isn't an easy task.
This film deserves praise. It's absolutely worth seeing and will likely do well at next year's Academy Awards, but I have a but – and it's a big but.
When this film was announced I felt a little uneasy about the idea of Hollywood giving their telling of the Weinstein scandal when Hollywood is the very system which not only allowed him to operate for 30-odd years, but also was built on tales of abuse or otherwise generally crappy behaviour.
Watching the film I still felt uneasy about it and that never went away.
I've thought long and hard about it since watching the movie and I think in the end it's an important story to tell; it's a net positive for this movie to exist, but I can't help but think there was a better way to tell it.
There's a very self-congratulatory nature to the film and its focus is almost entirely on Weinstein. There's one line in the film about how the system is the issue and that's what needs to be attacked. I couldn't agree more and that's what I wanted to see more of.
The team behind the film have said this isn't a film about the #MeToo movement or about the aftermath of the scandal, just about the journalists who worked tirelessly to expose it, but this is not the end of the story. The story still isn't finished. There are powerful people abusing their power in every industry and they have powerful friends helping them hide it.
I watched this film with a friend of mine who burst into tears at the end of the film and asked for a hug and held me tight for a good few seconds. That moment is when I realised that these issues I have with the film shouldn't get in the way of this story being told. She Said has an incredibly powerful message and is still so incredibly relevant. If it helps you or resonates with you, then who am I to tell you I felt it was self-congratulatory?
I would also recommend reading the book as a companion piece to the movie, which helped alleviate some of my issues.
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