Rent She Said (2022)

Excellent Exposé Drama - She Said review by GI

A good solid drama told in a refreshingly straight forward way of the two New York Times journalists who doggedly investigated and broke the scandal of sexual harassment, assault and rape of young actresses and staff by the movie mogul Harvey Weinstein. Carey Mulligan and Zoe Kazan play the two reporters, Megan Twohey and Jodi Kantor, who struggle with the cover up and Non Disclosure Agreements that Weinstein and his organisation have used to silence the victims. The film effectively deals with the difficult presentation of journalists spending endless time on their mobile phones balancing the two women's own difficult lives as mothers and wives with trying to get the victims to go on the record. It's a powerful story, very well edited and directed and with first rate performances from the two leads ably assisted by Patricia Clarkson and Andre Braugher as their bosses. Ashley Judd, who was a key witness and victim the first to speak out, plays herself very effectively. Like other major exposé type dramas such as All The President's Men (1976) and Spotlight (2015) this is a disturbing true story and a tale of remarkable journalism. Well worth checking out.

Worthy piece on a vitally important subject - She Said review by PD

Following the template of “All the President’s Men” and “Spotlight,” this one is a tense and absorbing film, one that sticks close to the nuts and bolts of what reporters do. We also see Twohey and Kantor at home, juggling work and husbands and children, and we feel their deep solidarity with the women they’re trying to coax into talking. Their reporting connects former assistants, film stars (including Ashley Judd, playing herself), as well as the financial executives who oversaw the payouts to silence Harvey’s victims. We see the journalistic juggling they have to do to build a sense of collective power in these women where there’s been none. This is a film about conversations in diners and restaurants, phone calls and surprise house calls, hunts for evidence that corroborates what is known intuitively. Schrader’s direction is restrained and respectful to the gravity of its subject matter, allowing the inherent drama to do most of the heavy lifting - moments which connect the past to the present establish one of the film’s most affecting threads: a generation of women forced to abandon their dreams and live alone with their nightmares.

However, after a compelling first hour, the film doesn't quite build to the electrifying payoff quite the way you want it to. This is, unfortunately, partly because of both Carey Mulligan and Zoe Kazan -there's a naturalistic chemistry between them as they develop a bond of their shared pursuit of the truth, but otherwise their performances are frustratingly bland and by-rote in a 'made-for-tv' kind of style - and partly because of a frustratingly stilted dialogue which dissipates the intensity at key moments. But the main problem is mainly because, despite an insistence at times in the script that the 'bigger picture' is Hollywood and a sinister corporate web, the film doesn't have the strength or scope to move beyond Weinstein himself. We learn a little about his method of buying his victims’ silence with expensive settlements and using non-disclosure agreements as a secret weapon against them, but Weinstein’s network of enablers—including the high-powered actors and directors who knew what was going on and looked the other way—get what’s essentially a free pass, remaining largely unmentioned. All in all, a worthy piece on a vitally important subject, but something of a missed opportunity, I fear.

Not enough - She Said review by CSF

The film is well done, well performed, informative and entertaining but, too sober. Sometimes repetitive whereas there would have been a lot more to say. Not enough importance is given about the people who just show inertia, indiferrence or cowardice.