February 15 & 16

7:00 pm Nightly
Thursday Matinee at 1:30 pm
Rated PG — 2 hr 9 min

Biography / Drama

She Said is a quiet thriller that speaks volumes. In October of 2017, New York Times reporters Megan Twohey and Jodi Kantor broke 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. One of the most powerful men in Hollywood, Harvey Weinstein, who made films that made millions at the box office and got dozens of Oscar nominations and three Best Picture wins, was a serial sexual predator whose abuses were covered up by his studio with hush money payments.

The movie balances the investigative work with the lives of the two reporters as they become consumed with the story. Twohey struggles with postpartum depression. Kantor, who has young children, receives a much-awaited call at home—she can’t miss that opportunity. She Said also makes clear the essential support they get from their husbands and from their editors.

Victims share stories of sexual abuse, but the incidents aren’t shown — although flashbacks do include women in deep distress after leaving encounters with Weinstein. Women are shown as much more than their stories or their careers, with the story touching on issues from postpartum depression to career-lifestyle balance to battling breast cancer. There are so many meaningful messages here, but the strongest is that a group of people can create change if they lock arms and move forward together.

She Said concentrates on process, prioritizing the patient accretion of testimony and corroboration. It’s a thriller, yes, but rendered discreetly, in sensible workplace separates. Its force accumulates slowly, stealthily even — lead by lead, fact by verified fact. Schrader doesn’t frame women in a spiral of violence they can’t escape, instead, she gives them perspective through collective reflection.

The film details a triumph of journalistic sympathy and precision. What will become of the real-world movement this reporting kindled? Time will tell. The film pulses with emotional and social depth, and given that She Said is a familiar story, it’s remarkable it can still be insightful and surprising.