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On October 5, 2017, a New York Time s story by reporters Megan Twohey and Jodi Kantor made public what had been whispered about for years. 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.

That reporting helped inspire countless #MeToo revelations, the departure of other top executives, and systemic changes that have given women more opportunities and more protection in the film industry and in other workplaces as well. Twohey and Kantor wrote a best-selling book about researching the article and persuading the women to go on the record, which is now a movie with Carey Mulligan as Twohey and Zoe Kazan as Kantor. Maria Schrader's "She Said" is a " Spotlight "-style journalism procedural that makes clear how powerful men are enabled and how devastated women are silenced. The title of the film significantly is just half of the dismissive "he said/she said" response to sexual harassment accusations with no witnesses.

"Do you think that speaking out might stop him?" That is what the survivors, many severely traumatized, want to know. As the old saying goes, when an iron pot hits a clay pot, the clay pot breaks and when a clay pot hits an iron pot, the clay pot breaks. Harvey Weinstein was the iron pot. He had immeasurable money and power. He did not hesitate to tell the young women that he could make their careers or make sure they never had a chance at one. Afterwards, they were paid to sign strict non-disclosure agreements. And the women were, unfairly but inevitably, humiliated, whether those who could not find a way to say no or those who did. Targets of predators almost always blame themselves. There are so many reasons not to say anything. There are so many secrets.

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.

It is in no way a criticism to say that this is a solid, conventional film, skillfully made. Mulligan and Kazan are excellent as always and they get strong support from Patricia Clarkson and Andre Braugher as their editors. Jennifer Ehle and Angela Yeoh are standouts as two of the women preyed on by Weinstein. As a Washington DC lawyer, I particularly enjoyed Peter Friedman as Washington lawyer Lanny Davis, who perfectly nailed the smooth, “come on, we’re all friends here” charm of a fixer worth what only the .01 percent can pay.

As in "Spotlight" and " All the President's Men ," we get a telling look at the drudgery, persistence, and frustration of investigative reporting. When there is a possibility that someone might be willing to talk to them, the paper does not hesitate to send them thousands of miles away. It is inspiring to see the integrity and dedication of the reporters and their editors.

The scenes with Weinstein and his lawyers are among the movie's highlights. But it is infuriating to see what Weinstein got away with for so long, though we never hear the names of the board of directors who kept signing off on millions of dollars in hush money payments. It is even more dispiriting to think about how rare it is to give those kinds of resources to a long-term investigative project. Who will write about the all the other Weinsteins?

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Nell Minow is the Contributing Editor at RogerEbert.com.

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Film Credits

She Said (2022)

Rated R for language and descriptions of sexual assault.

129 minutes

Zoe Kazan as Jodi Kantor

Carey Mulligan as Megan Twohey

Patricia Clarkson as Rebecca Corbett

Andre Braugher as Dean Baquet

Jennifer Ehle as Laura Madden

Samantha Morton as Zelda Perkins

Angela Yeoh as Rowena Chiu

Tom Pelphrey as Vadim ‘Jim’ Rutman

Maria Schrader

Writer (based on the book "She Said" by)

Jodi Kantor
Megan Twohey

Writer (based on the New York Times investigation by)

Rebecca Corbett
Rebecca Lenkiewicz

Cinematographer

Natasha Braier
Hansjörg Weißbrich
Nicholas Britell

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‘She Said’ Review: A Quiet Thriller That Speaks Volumes

Maria Schrader directs this adaptation of the book about reporters’ efforts to document sexual harassment by Harvey Weinstein.

Two women are in a newsroom. Carey Mulligan has her back to the camera and is leaning toward Zoe Kazan, who is holding an iPhone in one hand and looking up at Mulligan.

By Alexis Soloski

In February 2020, a New York jury found Harvey Weinstein, the producer whose films had won dozens of Oscars, guilty of criminal sexual assault and rape. Now, two and a half years later, he is again on trial, in California, facing 11 further charges. Jurors in this trial received a particular instruction: The judge barred them from watching the trailer for “She Said.”

That’s the film adaptation of the nonfiction book of the same title. In it, the New York Times journalists Jodi Kantor and Megan Twohey describe — in pragmatic, restrained how-we-got-that-story prose — the reporting that led them to publish a series of articles detailing Weinstein’s behavior. Those articles helped ignite the #MeToo movement, in which thousands, perhaps millions , of women took to social media and other channels to detail their own stories of sexual harassment and assault. Some men have been held accountable. Others have largely eluded consequences. Debate continues about whether the movement has gone too far or not far enough. Already, some Hollywood industry leaders have observed a regression , if not an outright backlash.

This is the contentious climate in which the film arrives. “She Said,” directed by Maria Schrader from a script by Rebecca Lenkiewicz, is built solid and low to the ground, as if designed to withstand these shifts in cultural winds.

Measured and deliberate, the film avoids grandstanding, speaking in low tones where another movie might shout. Little is glamorized or embellished here. (New York City has rarely looked so blah.) The points the film makes about predation, complicity and silencing are often made in passing. “She Said” concentrates instead 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 — until the tension surrounding a cursor’s click is an agony. (The New York Times had no control over the production of the film.)

“She Said” opens not in the newsroom or in one of the hotel suites that Weinstein preferred, but in rural Ireland in 1992 when a young woman encounters a film crew, which swiftly adopts her. But only seconds later she is shown running down a city street, panicked — a victim, it would seem, of assault. (The film does not depict the assaults themselves, only the aftermath.)

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‘She Said’ Review: The Harvey Weinstein Scandal Becomes a Muckraking Newspaper Drama That Puts the Spotlight on Fear

Carey Mulligan and Zoe Kazan play the New York Times reporters who broke the Weinstein story in a movie that's tense, fraught, and compelling, though with less of a payoff than you want.

By Owen Gleiberman

Owen Gleiberman

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The movie, written by Rebecca Lenkiewicz and directed by Maria Schrader (it’s based on the book of the same title by Times reporters Jodie Kantor and Megan Twohey), accomplishes this by tapping into something that was always an essential part the Weinstein saga, but one I’ve never experienced as vividly as I did watching “She Said”: the pervasive, unfathomable fear that ruled Harvey Weinstein’s victims.

It’s no big leap from Trump to Weinstein. When Kantor ( Zoe Kazan ) starts to get tips about Weinstein’s harassing behavior (and worse), she speaks on the phone to Rose McGowan, the first Weinstein accuser to go public, and even the furious McGowan is skittish about signing on to participate in the story. She explains that she’s been burned before — by the Times, and by other outlets who pursued a Weinstein exposé only to drop it.

Twohey and Kantor start working together, and what they discover, speaking to former employees of Miramax, is that the woman there have been systematically traumatized — first by Harvey, with his litany of harassing rituals (the forced massages and jacuzzi baths, the disrobing and masturbating, and, in certain cases, the act of rape), and also by what happens afterwards. If they speak up, they‘ll be blackballed from the entertainment industry; Harvey has the power to do that with a phone call. And many have been pressured into signing nondisclosure agreements, which means that they’ll be sued if they talk. The culture of NDAs becomes part of the system of oppression, a way to buy silence by demanding that these women sign away their voices.

Beyond that, the sense of entitlement that Weinstein brings to sexual abuse suggests that he’s a man who lives outside the law, and that he’ll therefore stop at nothing. In “She Said,” we never see Weinstein’s face, but we hear him — on the phone, and in the chilling actual recording made by Ambra Battilana Gutierrez of her encounter with Harvey and his coercive tactics in the hallway of the Peninsula Hotel. And we see him from the back, a man who carries himself like an ogre. Fear, and the fight against it, is a key theme of “She Said.” The film places that fear — of assault, of joblessness, of shame, of desolation, of dark cars following you in the night — at the epicenter of the culture of abuse.

In the brightly lit offices of the Times, the editors add a spice of dramatic tension — Patricia Clarkson , terse and worldly as Rebecca Corbett, who will never tip her hand as to just how badly she wants this story (though we read it in the dance of Clarkson’s eyes), and Andre Braugher as Dean Baquet, a born negotiator who knows how to handle a terrorist like Weinstein. Mulligan, now wily and now explosive, and Kazan, who beneath Kantor’s Poindexter façade creates a stunning X-ray of the journalistic mind whirring away, are a dynamic and, at moments, moving team of ace reporter operatives.

Yet for everything that works about it, “She Said,” after its superb first hour, doesn’t built to an electrifying payoff in quite the way you want it to. It’s not so much that we know what’s coming as that the story stops gathering a sense of intricacy. Can Twohey and Kantor get one or more of Harvey’s abuse survivors to go on the record? Without that, they have no story. Yet somehow, in the course of waiting for that breakthrough moment, the film starts to feel more targeted, less epic than what the Weinstein saga became: a prophecy of how the world had to change. “She Said” remains compelling, but by the end the deliverance you feel is more redux than revelation.

Reviewed at Walter Reade Theater (New York Film Festival), Oct. 13, 2022. MPA Rating: R. Running time: 135 MIN.

Production: A Universal Pictures release of an Annapurna, Plan B production. Producers: Dede Gardner, Jeremy Kleiner. Executive producers: Brad Pitt, Lila Yacoub, Megan Ellison, Sue Naegle.
Crew: Director: Maria Schrader. Screenplay: Rebecca Lenkiewicz. Camera: Natasha Braier. Editor: Hansjörg Weißbrich. Music: Nicholas Britell.
With: Carey Mulligan, Zoe Kazan, Patricia Clarkson, Andre Braugher, Jennifer Ehle, Samanatha Morton, Ashley Judd.

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She Said Reviews

Maria Schrader chronicles the story surrounding the wider emergence of the Me Too movement in She Said, her seismic investigative film.

Full Review | Original Score: 4/5 | Aug 13, 2024

It has its flaws, but the performances are great, the score is emotive, and it handles its subject matter with care.

Full Review | Original Score: 3/5 | Jul 15, 2024

director Maria Schrader frames it as a distinct betrayal because an innocent gets lured in by the wonder of movie magic, which makes her an audience surrogate. Schrader is galvanizing our outrage since we too came to the movies to be amazed, not exploited

Full Review | Jun 3, 2024

Poised to be one of the definitive films of the #MeToo era.

Full Review | Feb 13, 2024

An imperative account of Weinstein’s abuse that gives his victims the time to speak.

Full Review | Jan 23, 2024

The two female leads make for great scene partners whose characters are tasked with unpeeling each devastating layer of the various testimonies while trying to minimize their own emotional fallout in the process.

Full Review | Nov 8, 2023

She Said will move you; dig deeper, however, and you’ll find that films like She Said just want to tell a nice story — extra points for girl boss moments if you got them.

Full Review | Original Score: 7.5/10 | Sep 19, 2023

It all works because Mulligan and Kazan bring such credible performances to the film. Mulligan is always good and Kazan's performance keeps pace with her.

Full Review | Original Score: A- | Aug 9, 2023

While the film adeptly touches on the deafening silence with which sexual assault and harassment operate, its lack of style and technical prowess hinders the breadth and depth of emotion it seeks to attain.

Full Review | Aug 7, 2023

Condensing, combining and streamlining are expected elements of movie storytelling, but She Said works toward a composite that validates as many facts and details as possible within the limitations of the feature film format.

Full Review | Jul 27, 2023

The film is anything but flashy. But sometimes substance matters when style is clouded by the truth of the moment.

Full Review | Jul 25, 2023

Overall this film is a guide for how to deal with the topics of sexual assault and harassment in media that does not exploit or dehumanize women.

She Said should have been scathing, a full-blown, overflowing, boiling pot of rage. Instead, it’s lukewarm, never as damning as it could be and never as critical as it should be.

Full Review | Jul 24, 2023

She Said is a brutally vulnerable film with women front and center as it reveals the importance of persistence, resistance, and the true meaning of steadfastly using one’s voice for divulgences that will change the world for the better.

Full Review | Jul 23, 2023

She Said is remarkably restrained, almost muted.

Full Review | Feb 27, 2023

Even though the subject could lead to sensationalist scenes, the film does not fall into this category, showing a fine discretion that brings the case to the level it deserves. [Full review in Spanish]

Full Review | Original Score: B+ | Feb 13, 2023

…She Said does an effective job of evoking the ghosts of the past to warn us that our precarious present is very much open to the very same kind of exploitation of the young….

Full Review | Original Score: 4/5 | Feb 8, 2023

Like all of the great films about journalism, She Said is a fascinating picture that explores the challenges of working in journalism...investigative reporters follow their leads until they can put together a firm and unimpeachable story.

Full Review | Original Score: 4/4 | Feb 6, 2023

She Said feels so nimble in craft, but also thoughtful in spite of its initially surprising approach. Schrader has directed a film that is generous and decisive with genuine awareness of the work of journalism that feels so sharp without being officious.

Full Review | Jan 30, 2023

The film is most resonant when it understands its own limits, while not losing sight of its hopes.

Full Review | Jan 26, 2023

Entertainment
<i>She Said</i> Is a Satisfying Journalism Movie About Tireless Reporters Who Are Also Tired Moms

She Said Is a Satisfying Journalism Movie About Tireless Reporters Who Are Also Tired Moms

E ven if newspapers, in actual paper form, are becoming more of a rarity each year, the nuts and bolts of journalism haven’t changed much in centuries. The job still involves contacting sources, gathering facts and quotes, and packaging the results into a clear and accurate piece of writing. Yet in the great based-on-fact newspaper movies that readily come to mind— All the President’s Men, Spotlight , The Post —it’s largely, if not solely, men who are doing that legwork. Maria Schrader’s smart and satisfying She Said puts a different spin on the genre: this is the story of the two New York Times journalists, Megan Twohey and Jodi Kantor, who in 2017 broke the story of Harvey Weinstein’s decades-long history of sexual abuse , kicking the already-extant #MeToo movement into overdrive. But instead of hardworking men in their shirtsleeves running around a newsroom, possibly making the occasional call home to check in on their wives and kids, in She Said we see Twohey (here played by Carey Mulligan) at home on maternity leave, struggling with postpartum depression, and Kantor (Zoe Kazan) thanking her preteen daughter for helping to pacify her younger, needier sister. As reporters, they’re tireless. As moms, they’re tired.

That’s what gives She Said its believable texture. That and the fact that, regardless of this story’s ultimately explosive impact, She Said is simply a story of journalists at work . In between those vignettes of Kantor and Twohey at home caring for their young kids (with the help of their admittedly supportive partners), we see them making a ton of phone calls, not to mention waiting for callbacks, an almost larger part of the game. They meet with some sources who are immediately forthcoming and others who are more reticent. They talk out their ideas with their bosses. ( Patricia Clarkson plays veteran Times editor Rebecca Corbett; Andre Braugher is Dean Baquet, at the time the paper’s executive editor.) And they hit the pavement, quite literally. Schrader shows them hustling through crosswalks, striding across parking lots, casting sidelong glances at shady-looking vehicles that are almost certainly following them. Shoe-leather journalism is largely about getting from here to there; sometimes we actually see the soles of these women’s shoes.

But She Said also shows how much strategy and tact matter in journalism, especially when reporters are dealing with delicate subjects. The movie opens with a striking, wordless scene: It’s Ireland in 1992, and a young woman who’s out walking by the shore stumbles onto a location shoot, some sort of period piece involving 18th century soldiers and old wooden ships. The woman looks on, enchanted by what she sees, and it’s suggested that she somehow lands a film job, fulfilling a dream. There’s a cut, and we see her running down a street, distraught, as if being pursued. This vivid sequence lays the groundwork for what’s to come: many of these women have been hanging onto their trauma, possibly in secret, for some 25 years. Some have received payouts for their silence, but that doesn’t erase the wrongdoing that caused them to come forward in the first place. This is the nest of insidious coverups that Kantor steps into as she initiates a basic story about sexual harassment in the workplace. Later, she’ll ask Twohey—who’d previously attempted a frustrating examination of sexual misconduct charges against then-presidential-candidate Donald Trump—to join her. Together, they start gathering names and asking questions. But they have no idea who will be willing to talk—or if their story, one that other journalists had previously tried and failed to crack—will end up making any difference at all.

Read more: Why She Said Is One of the Must-Read Books of 2019

Somehow, Schrader makes that uncertainty a palpable presence in the story. She also shows how, despite that anxiety, Twohey and Kantor manage to get their subjects talking. Samantha Morton is marvelous as a former Weinstein assistant, working out of the London office, who had seen her bully of a boss at his worst, but who also recognized that, as horrifying as his behavior was, he was really just part of a larger systemic problem. Jennifer Ehle—as that same girl we’d seen in the movie’s opening sequence, now middle-aged—has a superb scene in which she describes to Kantor the abuse she suffered, and how she’d initially felt that her own naïveté was the problem. Kantor and Twohey frame their pursuit as one for the greater good: if these women will tell their stories, perhaps they can make things better for other women coming up behind them. But everyone, including the reporters, are aware of the searing facts: These victims have had to live with their own shame and anger for years, simply because they had spoken up and no one had cared.

There are some stiff moments in She Said, scenes in which the two lead actors seem to be declaiming, rather than speaking, to one another. At one point the pixie-ish Kantor asks the more glamorous but equally no-nonsense Twohey whether she’s sorry she took on the assignment. The question hangs in the air perhaps a beat too long before Twohey answers; the movie doesn’t need that kind of manufactured drama. (The script is by Rebecca Lenkiewicz, based on Twohey and Kantor’s account of their investigation, published in 2019.) Mostly, though, Schrader—who also directed the terrific bittersweet romantic comedy I’m Your Man —keeps the gears turning smoothy. In one of the movie’s finest, albeit lighter, moments, Twohey and Kantor, ready to knock on the doors of some unsuspecting potential sources, have shed their workday dark skirts and trousers in favor of less intimidating gear: they laugh when they realize they’re both wearing similar white summer dresses and flat sandals. But what they eventually achieve is serious business. Twohey and Kantor’s reporting cleared the way for more victims of Weinstein to come forward; in 2020 he was convicted of two felonies , including rape, and is currently serving a 23-year prison sentence. These women pulled off a reporting victory with hard work and a few strokes of luck: the cellphone intentionally left on the restaurant table by a major source, the well-known actress who at the eleventh hour decided to go on the record with her story. That’s how journalism works. And sometimes, the little girls waiting for you at home are part of your motivation.

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‘she said’ review: carey mulligan and zoe kazan anchor solid dramatization of new york times’ weinstein investigation.

The stars play Megan Twohey and Jodi Kantor, whose exposé on Harvey Weinstein ushered in changes in the film industry, in Maria Schrader's newsroom procedural premiering at the New York Film Festival.

By Lovia Gyarkye

Lovia Gyarkye

Arts & Culture Critic

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'She Said' follows the journalists who set the #MeToo movement in motion

Justin Chang

New York Times journalists Megan Twohey and Jodi Kantor (Carey Mulligan and Zoe Kazan) investigate allegations against Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein in She Said. Universal Pictures hide caption

New York Times journalists Megan Twohey and Jodi Kantor (Carey Mulligan and Zoe Kazan) investigate allegations against Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein in She Said.

At first glance, the taut and engrossing drama She Said seems to follow in the tradition of step-by-step newspaper procedurals like All the President's Men and Spotlight . Like those earlier titles, it makes journalists look awfully good — not just by casting them with famous actors, but also by showing how difficult, thankless and tedious their work can be as they struggle to break that huge, history-making story.

But because the story here is about Harvey Weinstein , She Said can't help but play differently. It's both powerful and a little unnerving to see a movie about a film producer's downfall emerge from the very industry he once dominated. The movie's most eerily poignant touch is the casting of Ashley Judd as herself, agonizing over whether she should go public with her story about having fended off Weinstein's hotel-room advances years ago. The director, Maria Schrader, and the screenwriter, Rebecca Lenkiewicz, effectively re-create the fear and anxiety that women felt before the reckoning of #MeToo , when powerful male abusers faced little to no accountability.

'Times' Reporters Describe How A Paper Trail Helped Break The Weinstein Story

Author Interviews

'me too' founder tarana burke says black girls' trauma shouldn't be ignored.

As the movie opens in 2016, the New York Times investigative reporter Megan Twohey, played by Carey Mulligan , has just written about new sexual-assault allegations against then-presidential candidate Donald Trump in the wake of the infamous Access Hollywood tape . She teams up with another reporter, Jodi Kantor, played by Zoe Kazan , who's heard allegations about Weinstein that concern sexual harassment, assault and rape. In one scene, Kantor catches Twohey up to speed on what she's learned, and asks, "If that can happen to Hollywood actresses, who else is it happening to?"

That's a good question, especially since actors like Rose McGowan and Gwyneth Paltrow, who've worked with Weinstein in the past, are unwilling to speak on the record. Kantor and Twohey decide to focus on the many women who used to work at Weinstein's company Miramax. They split up the legwork, doggedly tackling the story from every angle. And gradually, with the invaluable guidance of their editor, Rebecca Corbett — a terrific Patricia Clarkson — they uncover a vast network of enablers who helped Weinstein not only commit his crimes but also keep them hidden, via settlements and non-disclosure agreements.

Book Reviews

'she said' tracks the remarkable reporting leading to the arrest of harvey weinstein.

The wife of California's governor gives tearful testimony at Weinstein's rape trial

The reporters complement each other nicely, and so do the actors playing them. Mulligan plays Twohey as the steelier of the two; there's an amusing moment when she decides to take the lead on an interview, since she's taller and presumably more intimidating. Kazan emphasizes Kantor's empathy, her skill at building trust and coaxing information out of even the most reluctant sources. One of the pleasures of She Said is that it subverts the usual Hollywood formula of the male workaholic and his supportive, long-suffering wife: Here, it's Kantor and Twohey working tirelessly at all hours while their husbands hold down the fort and take care of the kids.

There's something meaningful about that dynamic, especially since so many of Weinstein's former assistants were young women on the cusp of successful film careers that were suddenly cut short. Samantha Morton gives a terrific performance as Zelda Perkins, who rivetingly details an incident in the '90s when she spoke out against Weinstein for harassing a colleague. And Jennifer Ehle is quietly heartbreaking as another ex-employee, Laura Madden, who musters the courage to break her two-decade silence.

Weinstein himself remains a mostly peripheral figure, shown only from behind in a few scenes in which he tries to pressure the Times ' executive editor, Dean Baquet , played by an unflappable Andre Braugher. The movie remains tightly focused and disciplined as Kantor and Twohey race to publish their story , especially after learning that another Weinstein investigation , by Ronan Farrow , is about to break in The New Yorker . But the Times reporters are also determined to get the story right and make sure that they've built an airtight case.

Where the #MeToo movement stands, 5 years after Weinstein allegations came to light

As a lover of movies about journalism, I ate up every detail of the drama inside the Times building, even while knowing that I was watching a more polished and streamlined version of events. There's something a little tidy and anticlimactic about how She Said ultimately plays out, especially since it leaves the aftermath of Kantor and Twohey's reporting offscreen. At the same time, it's fitting that the movie should end before we can see the full impact of the #MeToo movement that journalists helped ignite across every industry and all over the world. That's a much bigger story — and one that, five years later, is still being written.

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Zoe Kazan and Carey Mulligan in She Said (2022)

Jodi Kantor and Megan Twohey's quest to break the Harvey Weinstein scandal. Jodi Kantor and Megan Twohey's quest to break the Harvey Weinstein scandal. Jodi Kantor and Megan Twohey's quest to break the Harvey Weinstein scandal.

Maria Schrader
Rebecca Lenkiewicz
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Goofs Donald Trump is said to have owned the Miss America pageants. He owned the Miss USA and Miss Universe pageants.

Miramax Executive : What makes me most angry is the silence. No one spoke out then, and no one is talking about it now. He built the silence, and people complied. He produced fear and intimidation. The only alternative, seemingly, was to quit, and throw away everything you worked so hard for out the door. You were terrified you were going to be the next target, so people looked the other way.

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November 18, 2022 (United States)
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Review: Women’s voices and the facts power no-nonsense journalistic drama ‘She Said’

Two young women, one holding a lap top, in the movie "She Said."

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When allegations of sexual harassment and assault against producer Harvey Weinstein were published in the New York Times and the New Yorker in October 2017, it hit Hollywood like a bomb. The stories ignited the #MeToo and Time’s Up movement, prompted an industrywide reckoning with a culture of harassment, bullying and silence and ultimately led to Weinstein’s conviction for rape and sexual assault in New York in February 2020 and his subsequent imprisonment. Weinstein is currently on trial for rape and sexual assault in Los Angeles , where his victims have been offering gut-wrenching testimony about their experiences.

These events are fresh, but at times it can feel like 2017 was eons ago. Though it’s recent history, the incredible bravery of the women who came forward and the journalists who told their story bears repeating, as in Maria Schrader’s “She Said,” the film adaptation of the book based on the Pulitzer Prize-winning investigation by New York Times journalists Jodi Kantor and Megan Twohey , who broke the story after months of investigation and decades of Weinstein successfully silencing his victims.

Zoe Kazan and Carey Mulligan portray Kantor and Twohey, respectively, in this no-nonsense journalistic drama in the vein of “All the President’s Men” or “Spotlight.” The screenplay, by Rebecca Lenkiewicz, is dense and errs on the side of being careful, almost clinical at times, but there is a tremendous amount of pressure here, as in the investigation, to get it exactly right.

The emphasis in “She Said” is on the process of information gathering and evidence, and it demonstrates how Kantor and Twohey did just that with the help of their team at the New York Times (Patricia Clarkson and Andre Braugher are particularly fantastic as tough but supportive editors Rebecca Corbett and Dean Baquet). Though merely telling this story is a decidedly feminist project, the focus is on the facts in this slow-burn drama that methodically builds to a moving and emotional crescendo.

Schrader’s directorial instincts counteract any stiffness in the script, showing us these women in the context of their world, surrounded by men, yes, but also by other women. Our heroines are constantly in motion, walking purposefully on crowded New York City streets, picking up calls from sources while caring for their children. Jodi scrawling the Netflix password on an envelope and handing it to her daughter while on the phone is one of the best visual jokes.

Dozens of people watch TV monitors in a newsroom in the movie "She Said."

Natasha Braier’s cinematography captures the reality of the city, while editor Hansjörg Weissbrich montages their movement over interviews and story meetings. Though this is a wordy, dialogue-heavy film, much of the storytelling is visual, whether in the production design by Meredith Lippincott of the New York Times offices (spot the copy of Peter Biskind’s ‘90s indie film expose “Down and Dirty Pictures” ), or in the costume design by Brittany Loar. Jodi and Megan sport the comfortable business casual of a reporter on the go and joke about how they’re “reporter twins,” but Megan’s booties and Jodi’s loafers speak to the subtle differences in their characters — Megan is the unflappable bulldog interviewer, peppering powerful men with probing questions, while Jodi is on the softer side, empathetically connecting with her sources and taking in their stories.

As to the details, Schrader keeps the focus on the women’s voices, nodding to the film’s title and to the power of offering one’s own testimony publicly. She never visualizes the assaults themselves; shots of a hotel corridor or a bathrobe discarded on a bed are chilling enough. Schrader also utilizes nonfiction to great effect, layering the real audio of victim Ambra Battilana Gutierrez over a slow montage of empty hotel shots. Weinstein victim Ashley Judd, who was one of the first women to go on the record with Kantor and Twohey, plays herself, and the moment she decides to speak out is a particularly powerful beat.

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With care, thoughtfulness and rigor, Schrader and the filmmakers of “She Said” craft a film that shows the process of building this paradigm-shifting piece of journalism in a manner that is simultaneously thrilling and grindingly methodical, aided greatly by Nicholas Britell’s score.

Recent history can be so easy to forget, or to normalize, but “She Said” is a powerful reminder of the horrors of Weinstein’s wide-ranging crimes. It’s not a period at the end of this saga, but an underlining of what we already know, and a tribute to those who raised their voices, and those who listened and brought their stories out of the silence.

Katie Walsh is a Tribune News Service film critic.

Rated: R, for language and descriptions of sexual assault Running time: 2 hours, 8 minutes Playing: Starts Nov. 18 in general release

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‘She Said’ Review: A Reckoning Gets the Incendiary and Artful Film It Requires

Kate erbland, editorial director.

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Editor’s note: This review was originally published at the 2022 New York Film Festival. Universal releases the film in theaters on Friday, November 18.

Kantor and Twohey’s investigation (and a concurrent one from Ronan Farrow for The New Yorker, with whom they shared their Pulitzer) didn’t just set a course for a reckoning for Weinstein and his crimes but helped ignite the entire #MeToo movement on a global scale. That Weinstein’s downfall was the product of diligent reporting, dogged persistence, and the resilience of a few brave souls is essential to remember. In Maria Schrader’s artful and incendiary “ She Said ,” we’re reminded of something else that makes for one hell of a movie: It was women who did it. Related Stories ‘The Killer’ Review: John Woo’s Straight-to-Peacock Remake of His Own Action Classic Is Shockingly Good Carol Kane Scopes Out the Criterion Closet, Grabs ‘All About Eve,’ ‘Local Hero,’ and More

There is, of course, a dark irony to Weinstein — for so long such a Hollywood titan, a bonafide super-producer — getting taken down (again! and good! do it more!) via the kind of awards-y, end-of-year true-life tale the former Miramax head probably would have loved to make, back when he was, oh, you know, not in jail for multiple sex crimes. Hit him where it hurts. But it’s also bitterly hilarious that Weinstein’s downfall came at the hands of two women, the kind of tenacious, emotional, stressed, and heroic people he spent so much of his life and career trying to shut down. Dozens of films could be made about what Weinstein did, how Kantor and Twohey took him down, and the many lives his crimes disrupted, but Schrader’s would likely still be the best of the bunch, a definitive endeavor right out the gate.

“She Said” does that, but it also gives us all the emotions of the story, too. It starts early, as Schrader moves us through a crowded New York City street bustling with people — you know the shot, you’ve seen it plenty of times before — and instead takes time to focus on women, lots of them, regular women just moving about their days, talking on the phone, going to work, hopping on the subway. Women. Everywhere. This story could be about any of them. It is, however, principally about two of them, and Schrader and her stars carefully build entire emotional worlds for these on-screen versions of Jodi and Megan.

Jodi believes in it, too, even if she’s being stretched thin at every turn. While Kantor and Twohey’s work was very much built on their partnership, from the initial investigation to their book on which the film’s script from Lenkiewicz is based, Schrader often lets Kazan take the lead. “She Said” would not work without both Jodi and Megan, both Kazan and Mulligan, but the story seems to naturally run toward Jodi more often, and Kazan delivers at every turn. She’s tasked with the film’s heaviest lifts, and to deem it “cathartic” when she bursts into tears in the toughest moments or “wrenching” when she must handle the hardest parts of reporting (a scene in which she accidentally lets slip a possible source’s story comes to mind) is diminishing. It’s more than that.

Weinstein’s victims run the gamut, and while Schrader’s film primarily focuses on some of the lesser-known women he brutalized (plenty of assistants who started their careers with his Miramax, with Samantha Morton appearing as a particularly outspoken survivor in a single scene that stuns), “She Said” also weaves in the stories of Weinstein’s more famous victims. Ashley Judd appears as herself. Rose McGowan is only a voice on the phone (voiced by Keilly McQuail). Gwyneth Paltrow is often discussed and only “appears” once, during a chilling phone call. Similarly, Weinstein is played by actor Mike Houston, who only shows the back of his head (and that’s enough). He screams and carries on through various phone calls, all of them skin-crawling.

It’s not all perfect. A few stilted moments in its first act — tons of journo speak, some bizarre bits of name-dropping, and a worrisome interest in following the journalists as they take absolutely essential phone calls in the middle of the street — threaten to dilute a bit of its power. That fades as Jodi and Megan push toward what we know is inevitable, somehow still bracing ourselves for the moment their story finally floods out into the world.

“She Said” premiered at the 2022 New York Film Festival. Universal will release it in theaters on Friday, November 18.

She Said review: A stirring but uneven take on a #MeToo reckoning

Zoe Kazan and Carey Mulligan star as the reporters who took down Harvey Weinstein in this engaging if sometimes artless dramatization.

There's an inherent anti-glamour baked into journalism movies, with their rumpled sun-starved heroes and long walks down halogen-lit hallways, their sad desk lunches and diligently footnoted epiphanies. And yet we still thrill to films like Spotlight , The Post , and All the President's Men because they speak truth to power — torn-from-the-headlines battles that a viewing audience tends to be righteously primed for, having already and often recently lived through it. (The frantic muppets running around on screen may not know what Nixon's cronies or the Catholic Church are up to yet, but we, smug with history, know that justice is coming.)

She Said (in theaters Nov. 18) arrives with still-fresh outrage to mine, and a villain whose dimensions are less that of a man than a monster from a fairy tale: the famed Hollywood ogre Harvey Weinstein. It's faithfully acted by an earnest, intelligent cast, and directed with fervent purpose by Maria Schrader. But the result, for all its galvanizing, well-oiled plot machinations, remains consistently earthbound, and often frustratingly schematic, a movie so bent toward education and edification that it feels a little bloodless in the end — human tragedy as PSA.

The litany of Weinstein's most famous targets is well known to us now: household names like Rose McGowan , Ashley Judd , and Gwyneth Paltrow, all of whom appear here in some form (McGowan is represented by an actor's voice on the phone, while Judd plays herself; Paltrow remains a vaporous presence, teasingly out of frame). But the mogul's transgressions were hardly confined to A-list actresses, and the methodical, almost faultlessly respectful screenplay by Rebecca Lenkiewicz ( Disobedience , Colette ) smartly threads several of his lesser-known victims throughout the narrative — the young production assistants, aspiring ingenues, and low-level Miramax employees who bore the brunt of his volcanic temper and grotesque sexual demands for decades.

When New York Times investigative reporters Jodi Kantor and Megan Twohey, played here with engaging, unfussy fortitude by Zoe Kazan and Carey Mulligan , first began circling the story back in 2016, none of this was public record; it was just a few loose threads to tug at as the amorphous idea of a larger #MeToo movement began to take shape. Said follows the pair home as they begin to piece together their reporting, toggling between the bustling Times office and more intimate domestic scenes (Kazan's Jodie struggling to balance 2 a.m. cold calls with the needs of her husband and two little girls; Mulligan's Megan chasing down leads as a way to stave off postpartum depression).

What the movie does to humanize both these women — and their skittish, often terrified witnesses — feels more fully realized than the procedural bits, which often tend to come off like a broad discourse on How Journalism Works. The ever-reliable Samantha Morton and Jennifer Ehle bring a tensile fury and vulnerability to two of the film's most memorable accusers, and Patricia Clarkson and Andre Braugher have the built-in gravitas to play Kantor and Twohey's suffer-no-fools editors as they methodically track down the tramautized, the complicit, and the less-than-innocent bystanders who will eventually allow them to publish their bombshell report.

Maria Schrader, a veteran German actress ( In Darkness , Deutschland 83 ), has become a director of note more recently, with the global Netflix hit Unorthodox and last year's inordinately charming robot romance I'm Your Man . Here she can sometimes seem stymied by the material, or perhaps just too far outside her element; her vision, as sincerely and diligently conveyed as it is, feels safer and more strident than it should be. Oddly, one of the movie's most affecting incidents comes near the end, when actual audio of Weinstein berating an Italian model in a Manhattan hotel room is played as part of a larger scene. (There's an excellent, devastating British documentary from 2019 called Untouchable currently streaming on Hulu, if you prefer your hard truths more unfiltered.) She Said finishes on a triumphant note, but those few harrowing moments offer a stark reminder that the reckoning for Weinstein, and all who followed him, is far from done. Grade: B

‘She Said’ Review: A Faithful and Emotional Recount of the Weinstein Scandal

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When The New York Times published Megan Twohey and Jodi Cantor 's piece in October 2017 that exposed Harvey Weinstein's predatory behavior , Hollywood would never be the same. While everyone may now know about Weinstein's abhorrent acts, not as many realize the stories that his victims carry. She Said , directed by Maria Schrader , seeks to tell the daring true story of the two journalists, who against all odds, were able to help expose the disgraced producer for who he really is. Comparisons will likely be made to All the President's Men , Bombshell , and the Best Picture-winning Spotlight and whether those comparisons are fair or not, Schrader and her team clearly know the weight they carry on their shoulders with She Said .

The film begins shortly before the 2016 Presidential election, Megan Twohey ( Carey Mulligan ) is helping lead an investigation into the sexual assault accusations involving then-presidential candidate Donald Trump, but is wracked with guilt over the threats and attacks made against the accusers, including one being sent human waste stuffed inside an envelope. Months later, Jodi Cantor ( Zoe Kazan ) hopes to recruit Twohey in her investigation into the accusations made against Weinstein by actresses Rose McGowan and Ashley Judd (who plays herself on screen). While Weinstein's tactics to silence the women prove to be a hurdle for Twohey and Cantor, their investigation leads to some shocking and unexpected places, while they also reflect on the burdens that society already places upon women, and their roles as mothers to help protect their daughters, but also how to make them away of the dangers the world holds for young women.

One of the more interesting aspects of She Said is Maria Schrader's approach to telling this story in the most grounded way possible that avoids sensationalizing or making light of the women whose stories help guide Twohey and Cantor in their piece. The pacing is intentionally slow and the conversations and dialogue written by Rebecca Lenkiewicz feel to-the-point and any moments of levity feel natural. Some may be underwhelmed by She Said 's dry nature, but at the same time, it would be hard to argue that the film should've been told in a more artistic way. The editing in the first act can at times be awkward and even jarring in its setup, moving at a much more brisk pace, and while the content itself was important to the film, it clashes with the rest of the film. The main character of the film isn't either of the two journalists, it's the investigation itself and if anything were to be added in to add some extra drama to the film, would have felt insincere and gone against the point of the movie.

RELATED: New 'She Said' Featurette Explains Why the Film Is About More Than #MeToo

Schrader also makes an effort never to show the face of Weinstein, nor does it have any of the acts of violence take place on the screen. Weinstein's presence throughout the film is almost entirely composed of phone calls, where he's voiced by Mike Houston , a move that felt appropriate and makes the film feel even weightier than it already does. If the film were to cast an actor to physically portray Weinstein on-screen, it likely would have been distracting and would have taken away from the investigation itself. In place, the film occasionally cuts to documentary-like footage of empty hotel hallways, where we hear the recorded conversations between Weinstein and his victims, which are some of the film's most chilling, heartbreaking, and infuriating moments. While Ashley Judd portrays herself on screen, the film noticeably never shows Rose McGowan's face, with Kelly McQuail providing her voice through phone calls; while that initially might bring cause for concern, it's ultimately appropriate, as the film even brings up how the newspaper ignorantly dismissed her claims long before the investigation breaking the actress' trust. In fact, Judd is the only actress that is shown on screen; Gwyneth Paltrow is mentioned, but instead, the film mainly focuses on the interviews with the interns and assistants who were victimized by the producer.

Carey Mulligan and Zoe Kazan's takes on Twohey and Cantor aren't particularly showy, nor do we get much background into their character's personal lives, but they do exactly what's intended for them, and without their presence, the film likely wouldn't have packed as big of a punch. Mulligan's Megan Twohey is shown to be unsurprised by the story, but heartbroken nonetheless, she has the same kind of confident energy that she brought to her past roles, making it easy to become attached, even if her story isn't the focus. A similar thing can be said for Kazan as Jodi Cantor, who has such natural chemistry with Mulligan, but it's her scenes that she shares with the victims and their families that leave the biggest impression. One scene, in particular, sees Cantor approaching the husband of one of the interns out of his home, where it is revealed that he was completely unaware of his wife's encounters with Weinstein. Schrader's direction lets the awkwardness of the scene play out in the scene that makes it devastating to watch.

The biggest stand-out performers in She Said are Samantha Morton and Jennifer Ehle as two of Weinstein's former assistants. It's their storylines, both in the past and in the present, where the emotions hit the hardest and a glimpse at the consequences Weinstein's unforgivable actions had on these women's lives.

She Said features just about everything you would expect from a true-to-life journalism movie, even with the heavy subject matter at the forefront and the fact that a lot of the audience may already know the outcome, it never stops the movie from being engaging as the New York Times' journalists' race to get the story published. When the film was first announced, there were concerns about whether or not She Said would feel like a self-congratulatory piece from Hollywood, and fortunately, it doesn't. It's narratively straightforward and gets its point across in a clear way, which was the best direction for the film to go. She Said doesn't rewrite the playbook of films about journalism, but it didn't need to. Maria Schrader's direction and Rebecca Lenkiewicz's writing hit every important beat just right, leaving us with an impactful film that's genuine and never fake.

She Said comes to theaters on November 18.

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She said review: conflicting yet important film with great performances [sdiff].

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The #MeToo movement, founded by American activist Tarana Burke in 2006, broadly reappeared across the media in 2017 after a New York Times report detailed overwhelming sexual assault allegations against Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein . The disclosure, written by journalists Jodi Kantor and Megan Twohey, unveiled decades of abuse at the hands of the once idolized film producer. With such a profound shift in the tolerance of abusive workplace cultures and confidence to stand up to such cruelties, it’s no surprise that a story of this caliber has made its way to the big screen. Director Maria Schrader brings to life Kantor and Twohey’s novel, which uncovers the process of taking down powerful men who misuse their power. She Said is a good-enough recounting of a crucial story, but the unreasonably long runtime struggles to sustain its intended conviction.

Throughout her feature, Schrader makes a valiant attempt to demonstrate the soul-crushing effort it took to get this unrelenting and life-altering story published. As the story follows the leading journalists, Kantor (Zoe Kazan) and Twohey ( Carey Mulligan ), viewers see that their lives never stopped for the story and vice versa. Both women have families, with young children that need their attention, which contributes to the idea that life goes on. The film does a great job showcasing that neither interfered with the other. And ultimately, their persistence and unrelenting pursuit of the truth to assist the victims with getting the justice that they needed is inspiring.

Related: She Said Trailer Reveals The NYT Harvey Weinstein Investigation

Despite these triumphant features of the narrative, She Said struggles with pacing issues. The first act takes a considerable amount of time to find its footing, rapidly switching between sexual assault cases on which the journalists are working. Perhaps it was a way for screenwriter Rebecca Lenkiewicz to emphasize how prevalent these issues are, but a confined first act could have set the film on a right path. That, in combination with spending a little too much time on the details, contributes to a long runtime that fails to keep the effect established by the conversations with the various characters who portrayed Weinstein’s many victims. Regardless, it’s easy to recognize the importance of such details.

The most conflicting thing about She Said is that, at times, it feels as if the film is just a giant pat on Hollywood’s back for finally doing something about their predator problem. Frequent name-drops of big-name actresses and guest appearances tend to sway it in that direction. Thankfully, Lenkiewicz’s screenplay spends as much time with the lesser known victims as it does its stars, which adds much-needed levels of integrity. Still, in the grand scheme of things, there are still abusers who remain unscathed in Hollywood, and they are as successful as their last projects long after revelations of their misdoings. To that end, it’s often hard to take the film seriously while knowing it is yet another Hollywood production.

Zoe Kazan, Carey Mulligan, Andre Braugher, and Patricia Clarkson in She Said

However, one of the most powerful elements of Schrader’s feature is the sensitivity with which she shapes the storytelling despite feelings of the film’s ironic appraisal. Heading into this film, empathy may already be a baseline emotion experienced by viewers. But after thorough conversations between the journalists and multiple women, the follow-up reactions may be disgust for the perpetrator and complete compassion for his victims. There’s also not a moment in these discussions in which Mulligan and Kazan don’t deliver great performances. They are steadfast and reliable, maintaining the intriguing and ever-potent components of the story.

A testament to the power of investigative journalism, She Said highlights the courage of survivors and witnesses who choose to come forward to stop a serial predator from continuing on a rampage of assault. Their integrity and dedication towards bringing this story to light amplified the #MeToo movement even further in Hollywood and around the world. Though it tends to overstay its welcome, She Said takes its time sharing the experiences of women in a way that leaves enough impact to make one want to stand up to the systematic mistreatment of women in their own workplace. It’s enough to temporarily put aside any growing contempt for an industry that still has these existing problems today.

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She Said screened at the 2022 San Diego International Film Festival, and it is set to release in theaters on November 18. The film is 128 minutes long and rated R for descriptions of sexual assault and language.

She Said (2022)

3.5 star movies
Movie Reviews

‘She Said’ Pays Tribute to the Reporters Who Brought Down a Monster — and Started a Movement

By David Fear

Talk to any investigative reporter, and they will fill your ears with tales about the combination of excitement and pure existential dread that occurs right before an editor hits the Publish button. So much legwork leads up to that moment; so much shoe-leather, metaphorical or otherwise, gets sanded away in the name of bringing something to light, or someone to justice. Then, with a click — and in the age of digital journalism, it’s usually a click — they pass the point of no return (and/or enter the realm of possible retractions).

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But from the very beginning, we see the consequences of Weinstein’s actions. Madden entered the industry as someone bright-eyed, energetic, hopeful; she exited it as a survivor who says she’s still dealing with the trauma from that day decades later. It would become a familiar story, how this man not only abused his power but robbed these women of a desire to be part of the creative process — to make art. The film sets the stakes high from square one by showing us what the reporters will try to stop. And while it refuses to play down how those violations disrupted lives and livelihoods, it’s also determined to give these women their voices back.

And the emphasis on the female perspective of this story doesn’t stop at the title; it extends to every aspect of the narrative. To suggest that Kantor and Twohy did everything that Woodward and Bernstein did, but backwards and in heels, is too reductive. But I don’t recall the screen versions of the Watergate reporters juggling co-parenting duties while chasing down leads, or bonding over post-partum depression, or — in what is either the film’s funniest and single most frightening sequence — being forced to yell down douchebags in a bar who are coming on to them after they’d politely, firmly rebuffed their advances. Schrader, screenwriter Rebecca Lenkiewicz, Kazan and Mulligan repeatedly show us how great at their jobs these two are. None of them are pretending the sociopolitical playing field is completely level, either.

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She Said doesn’t pretend that wrongs have been righted once and for all. It just wants to pay tribute to two people stood up to a Goliath and took him down not with one good shot but a million tiny cuts and a lot of hard work. It also doesn’t pretend that it isn’t a Hollywood movie in which great actors play at taking down IRL bad actors, and editorial meetings double as exposition dumps, and the score is shoving you directly into the desired emotional results with a total lack of grace. But it speaks well to the movie’s leads — both Kazan and Mulligan do beautifully understated work here, and understand exactly the heroic beats they must hit to give Kantor and Twohy their proper due — and its emphasis on the persistence of asking questions (then asking even more questions) that we get a sense of how tough and courageous it was to take Harvey on. The conversation isn’t over, but it has changed. And by the time you do see the Times’ reporters and editors huddled around a computer monitor, scouring sentences and double-checking last-minute additions, the moving of a cursor over to a Publish button becomes as suspenseful and victorious as slaying a dragon.

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Parents Say 2 Reviews
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Powerful, intense tale of creating change via journalism.

Parents Need to Know

Why Age 15+?

Strong language includes "s--t" and "f--k." Exclamatory use of "God!"

Subject matter is sexual coercion and rape, and victims recount experiences of b

Description of man masturbating. Kissing between a married couple, and husbands

Camera shot centered around an Apple logo on a laptop, indicating likely product

Characters meet at a bar.

Any Positive Content?

Themes of the importance of tenacious investigative reporting, courage in coming

Women investigative journalists balance their personal lives with the pursuit of

White women star in the film and hold key production roles: director, writers, p

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Language in your kid's entertainment guide.

Violence & Scariness

Subject matter is sexual coercion and rape, and victims recount experiences of both. While no abuse is depicted on camera, in one flashback, young women are seen fleeing or crying after sexual abuse. Story of a suicide attempt. Chilling verbal threat of extreme violence.

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Violence & Scariness in your kid's entertainment guide.

Sex, Romance & Nudity

Description of man masturbating. Kissing between a married couple, and husbands are shown as supportive. Sexual come-on from a random guy in a bar. (Additional sex-related content is of a violent nature and is included in Violence & Scariness.)

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Sex, Romance & Nudity in your kid's entertainment guide.

Products & Purchases

Camera shot centered around an Apple logo on a laptop, indicating likely product placement.

Drinking, Drugs & Smoking

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Drinking, Drugs & Smoking in your kid's entertainment guide.

Positive Messages

Themes of the importance of tenacious investigative reporting, courage in coming forward, and enduring personal risk to help others. Together, we can create change.

Positive Role Models

Women investigative journalists balance their personal lives with the pursuit of truth in hopes of stopping future victimization. They're forthright in pursuing their story, demonstrating integrity, tenacity, and grit, and they're not deterred by threats or intimidation. Women (including Ashley Judd, who appears as herself) and some men show real-life courage in aiding an investigation that threatens irreparable professional damage to themselves.

Diverse Representations

White women star in the film and hold key production roles: director, writers, producers, and cinematographer. One main character is Jewish, and aspects of her culture are expressed in her daily life. Nuanced portrayals of women address meaty topics, including the challenges of postpartum depression and parenting a newborn; the fact that women can be hands-on, involved parents while also having a satisfying career; and the positive impact of women speaking out to help other women. Cast is almost entirely White except for a senior-level Black male journalist in a supporting role and a Chinese British woman in a small but key role.

Did we miss something on diversity? Suggest an update.

Parents need to know that She Said recounts the New York Times investigation that revealed the rampant sexual misconduct and assault by movie mogul Harvey Weinstein. The movie showcases the tenacity involved in investigative journalism and offers nuanced, layered depictions of womanhood. The reporters and editors are unwavering in their strategic effort to get to the bottom of the story so they can help disrupt a system that protects abusers. Their actions led to meaningful change, including the ousting (and, in some cases, criminal prosecution) of men who abused their power to coerce, intimidate, and rape female subordinates. 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. Mature content includes an attempted suicide and some profanity ("s--t," "f--k"). Carey Mulligan and Zoe Kazan co-star. To stay in the loop on more movies like this, you can sign up for weekly Family Movie Night emails .

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Parent and Kid Reviews

Parents say (2)
Kids say (4)

Based on 2 parent reviews

It has a strong narrative, strong characters and may lack in some way, but in the end, it's worth watching movie!

What's the story.

Based on true events, SHE SAID follows New York Times reporters Megan Twohey ( Carey Mulligan ) and Jodi Kantor ( Zoe Kazan ) during their investigation into Harvey Weinstein's abuse of power and sexual misconduct as the head of a Hollywood studio. As the reporters work to expose one of the most powerful and influential men in Hollywood as a predator, they realize that asking people to go on the record means asking them to risk their careers -- and in Hollywood, that's also their passion and purpose.

Is It Any Good?

This drama is a cinematic earthquake. Audiences will be moved by She Said 's powerful storytelling, focused tenacity, and the courage of the women who went on the record to help topple a monster. The movie elicits a physical reaction: Viewers may feel their insides rumble with outrage, frustration, and disgust that a powerful mogul was allegedly able to sexually abuse so many women and that a (nearly) insurmountable system was in place for decades to protect him and other abusers. There's a sense of breaking free as we watch the ground finally rupture under an industry, see more predators get shaken out of the shadows, and welcome substantial change. And there's a bit of instruction here, too: Change only lasts if we continue to demand it.

The drama, made quite soon after the events it covers, creates a record that enlarges the footprint of the news reporting of 2018. This is now a time-travel movie, a visual synopsis that could be revisited decades in the future that will accurately portray the attitudes of the era. That's why it's all the more rewarding to see a film that depicts the modern-day female experience with such reality. With so many years of mostly men behind the camera, much has been missed in depicting how women really interact with each other, how women can relish their work life as much as their family life, how some women may have faith intertwined with their being, and how women often face an extra layer of life to punch through because of the men who see women only as sexual beings. She Said also allows viewers to see how journalists can be heroes through their pursuit of the truth. But it's important to note that the movie doesn't make all men out to be villains -- just this one. When they're provided with the full understanding of what was happening, other men in the story provide aid to the investigation. The title clearly indicates that this story is coming from the female perspective, but it's an essential and fulfilling watch for everyone.

Talk to Your Kids About ...

Families can talk about why abuse of power is a crime. What were the mechanisms that Weinstein allegedly used to keep women silent?

How do characters in She Said demonstrate integrity , perseverance , courage , self-control , empathy , and compassion ? Why are those important character traits and life skills?

She Said features women in key production roles: director, writers, producers, and cinematographer. When women are behind the camera, how does it impact how they're portrayed on screen? Why does authentic representation matter?

Movie Details

In theaters : November 18, 2022
On DVD or streaming : January 10, 2023
Cast : Carey Mulligan , Zoe Kazan , Patricia Clarkson
Director : Maria Schrader
Inclusion Information : Female directors, Female actors
Studio : Universal Pictures
Genre : Drama
Topics : Great Girl Role Models , History
Character Strengths : Communication , Compassion , Courage , Curiosity , Empathy , Integrity , Perseverance , Self-control , Teamwork
Run time : 128 minutes
MPAA rating : R
MPAA explanation : language and descriptions of sexual assault
Last updated : April 29, 2023

Did we miss something on diversity?

Research shows a connection between kids' healthy self-esteem and positive portrayals in media. That's why we've added a new "Diverse Representations" section to our reviews that will be rolling out on an ongoing basis. You can help us help kids by suggesting a diversity update.

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Reporters Uncover Harvey Weinstein’s Horrific Behavior in ‘She Said’

Zoe Kazan and Carey Mulligan play the lead reports on the real-life New York Times investigation into the producer’s history of sexual misconduct.

(L to R) Carey Mulligan and Zoe Kazan in 'She Said,' directed by Maria Schrader.

One of the toughest genres of movie to get right is the based-on-truth investigative dig into a big story. It’s not just that reporters hunched over keyboards or waiting for phones to ring can be singularly uncinematic, more that the heaviest hitters in the field – ‘ All the President’s Men ’, for example, or ‘ Spotlight ’ – boast a compelling subject, watchable performers as the dogged journalists and belief in the need for such work.

Fortunately, ‘ She Said ’ has all three. And if it doesn’t quite match those bastions of the form, then it certainly offers a hard-hitting, emotional and difficult probe into a world where too many people kept horrifying actions quiet for too long, with a variety of women’s lives and careers either destroyed or profoundly affected.

Directed by Maria Schrader (‘ I’m Your Man ’) and written by Rebecca Lenkiewicz (‘ Disobedience ’, ‘ Colette ’), ‘She Said’ follows the real-life investigation by New York Times journalists Jodi Kantor and Megan Twohey into the Harvey Weinstein sexual misconduct story, a bombshell piece which detailed a tapestry of allegations against the powerhouse producer, helped launch the #MeToo movement and assisted in sending Weinstein to prison for his actions.

Originally tipped off by accusations made by actress Rose McGowan (played in voice form only here by Keilly McQuail ), Kantor and then Twohey began to peel the toxic onion of Weinstein’s world, revealing any number of accusations of gross sexual and abusive behavior towards subordinates, actresses and others.

(L to R) Zoe Kazan and Carey Mulligan in 'She Said,' directed by Maria Schrader.

It’s a painful subject to bring to life and Schrader never shies from showing the effect it had on everyone who was affected – at least, those who would go on the record initially. The trickiest aspect was finding sources who would agree to be quoted, since Miramax and others and arranged settlements with a number of victims that included strict gagging orders.

With dogged determination, the two reporters (aided by senior journalist Rebecca Corbett) dug away at the cone of silence, finding people – including Ashley Judd , who plays herself – willing to let their names be used in the initial piece.

Lenkiewicz, meanwhile, adapts the book that the three reporters wrote documenting their work, carefully charting the wide-ranging investigation that ended up taking them to London, Wales, Silicon Valley and beyond in search of reliable and willing witnesses and victims.

Kazan brings a quietly persistent flavor to Kantor, a seemingly unassuming woman who held the line even when threatened and followed. Likewise, Mulligan imbues Twohey with a world-weariness drawn from previous years covering scandals; she’s introduced on the trail of accusations against Donald Trump during the 2016 election year. There are death and rape threats randomly flooding her phone and conversations with the subject himself rife with threats of legal action and poisonous personal attacks.

(L to R) Zoe Kazan, Carey Mulligan, Andre Braugher, and Patricia Clarkson in 'She Said,' directed by Maria Schrader.

Both of the leads are excellent, pushing the narrative along without flashy drama. These are complicated, driven women with the backbone to keep following the truth despite incredible pressure and resistance. Patricia Clarkson , for her part, makes the smaller role of Corbett into a mentor and colleague to be admired.

Around them, Schrader has built a supporting ensemble that shines almost to the same level – Jennifer Ehle will break your heart as Laura Madden, one of Weinstein’s victims who agrees to share her story even as she’s preparing to undergo major surgery. Andre Braugher brings gravelly power to Times executive editor Dean Baquet , snapping down the phone to recalcitrant lawyers and executives, and keeping his colleagues on the right track. And there are the various former studio workers and other victims who are quietly nudged into offering up their accounts or checking facts even if they won’t speak publicly.

Lest you think that it’s a grinding trudge through fetid soup, there are the moments of triumph, the calls to let Kantor or Twohey know that someone is willing to speak. Finding documents to back up the accusations. The reporters’ family lives also help to balance out the bleakness, moments of joy – but leavened with real-life challenges – as they dig ever deeper.

And though Weinstein is the subject here, he’s more a shadowy presence, heard over phones and glimpsed from behind when arriving at the Times office with his legal team to hammer out a statement to add to the story shortly before it’s published.

Hywel Madden (Wesley Holloway), Laura Madden (Jennifer Ehle) and Iris Madden (Justine Colan) in 'She Said.'

‘She Said’ is the sort of important story that it’s vital to get right. Tone is everything, and while Schrader sometimes lets the momentum lag, it’s almost always gripping. There is a measured feel to the movie that pushes it beyond feeling like someone is simply reading a Wikipedia entry about the investigation to you while you’re trapped in your chair.

And though not every scene of the journalists pouring through pages or squinting at screens to make sure the facts are straight work as well as the door-knocking encounters with former Weinstein assistants whose pain is written across their face, it doesn’t dilute what ‘She Said’ has to offer. True, a few scenes could easily have been snipped (we’re not sure we needed to have Kantor and Twohey show up at Gwyneth Paltrow ’s beautiful home for a conversation we never get to watch) and there are flashbacks that flip between powerful and filler, but the whole holds together beautifully and the result is an urgent, engrossing look at the positive impact that good, professional journalism can have on the world, which is something more relevant than ever.

Given the extensive coverage – sadly, this is a story as old as time and one in which the revelations, far beyond Weinstein, will just keep arriving – it would be easy to think that you already know what happened. ‘She Said’ is here to assure you, with heartbreaking authority, that you most definitely do not.

‘She Said’ receives 4 out of 5 stars.

Cast of 'She Said,' directed by Maria Schrader.

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She Said Review

25 Nov 2022

Journalists are rarely interesting enough to be the centre of a film. There’s a reason we tell other people’s stories — shining a light on incredible, singular human beings doing things the world previously thought impossible. But as with Spotlight or All The President’s Men , sometimes the journalists become the story. Such as five years ago, when New York Times journalists Jodi Kantor and Megan Twohey broke the story of Harvey Weinstein’s abuse and misconduct in Hollywood.

It’s for this reason that She Said is something of an anomaly. It’s not a standard film about journalists, nor another run-of-the-mill condemnation of Hollywood. It’s both, and it’s more — a meta-commentary on the injustices that continue to permeate journalism and filmmaking, and a galvanising portrait of tired women finding the strength to keep going. There’s no heroic sentimentality, nor epic stakes being raised: the cold, hard reality of what happened is enough.

She Said deftly avoids the trappings of potential performative feminism — the kind of female-led films that make for neat marketing about girlboss culture or the reductive pigeonholing of all interesting women into “strong female characters”. Kantor and Twohey are two exceptional journalists, but they’re also both burnt-out mothers: Carey Mulligan beautifully portrays Twohey’s exhaustion and unexpected postnatal depression as a new mother, only a few weeks before she joined Kantor on the Weinstein investigation. And it’s a joy to see Zoe Kazan take command as a lead actor again (her last major lead role was in The Big Sick , released around the same time as the Weinstein story broke). Her role as forever-juggling Jewish mother-of-two Kantor sees her constantly trying to prove herself; nobody, it seems, manages to see past her meek demeanor.

Mulligan and Kazan ground this film with immense power.

Much of the film’s strength comes from its care towards young female characters — in how the script protects those worried about speaking out, while finding the right language for unspeakable acts. How do you protect yourself without ruining your own life? Director Maria Schrader already showed her skill at deftly framing women trapped by circumstance in miniseries Unorthodox , about a Jewish woman leaving her religious community, and here she spotlights the women of the film industry terrified of telling the truth with sensitivity and subtlety.

There are brief flashes of something resembling a Hollywood biopic, especially in the score by Nicholas Britell, which evokes his sombre work on Succession rather than the delicate emotion infused into his scores for Barry Jenkins . But Mulligan and Kazan ground this film with immense power. There’s no fake sass or manipulative drama, only the truth: sober, righteous investigation, bringing justice to women who have suffered for too long.

Movies | 14 07 2022

IMAGES

“She Said” 2022 Movie Review
Film Review: “She Said” Offers Solidarity Over Suffering
She Said (2022)
She Said Review (2022 Movie)
‘She Said’ review: the Harvey Weinstein NYT report movie nobody wants
She Said 2022 Movie Review

COMMENTS

She Said movie review & film summary (2022)
Maria Schrader's "She Said" is a "Spotlight"-style journalism procedural that makes clear how powerful men are enabled and how devastated women are silenced. The title of the film significantly is just half of the dismissive "he said/she said" response to sexual harassment accusations with no witnesses. Advertisement.
She Said
A tough but worthy watch, She Said does a stellar job of dramatizing real-life reporters' efforts to bring a notorious sexual predator to justice. Read Audience Reviews. TOP CRITIC. It's pulsing ...
'She Said' Review: A Quiet Thriller That Speaks Volumes
In the movie's most affecting scene, Zelda Perkins (Samantha Morton), a former Miramax employee, speaks to Kantor when even an off-the-record conversation risked violating her nondisclosure ...
'She Said' Review: A Muckraking Drama That Puts the Spotlight ...
Fear, and the fight against it, is a key theme of "She Said.". The film places that fear — of assault, of joblessness, of shame, of desolation, of dark cars following you in the night — at ...
She Said
She Said Reviews. Maria Schrader chronicles the story surrounding the wider emergence of the Me Too movement in She Said, her seismic investigative film. Full Review | Original Score: 4/5 | Aug 13 ...
'She Said' Is a Satisfying Journalism Movie: Review
Maria Schrader's smart and satisfying She Said puts a different spin on the genre: this is the story of the two New York Times journalists, Megan Twohey and Jodi Kantor, who in 2017 broke the ...
'She Said' Review: Carey Mulligan and Zoe Kazan Anchor Solid
Release date: Friday, Nov. 18. Cast: Carey Mulligan, Zoe Kazan, Patricia Clarkson, Andre Braugher, Jennifer Ehle. Director: Maria Schrader. Screenwriter: Rebecca Lenkiewicz. Rated R, 2 hours 8 ...
'She Said' review: Spotlighting the women who helped take down Harvey
The movie's most eerily poignant touch is the casting of Ashley Judd as herself, agonizing over whether she should go public with her story about having fended off Weinstein's hotel-room advances ...
She Said (2022)
She Said: Directed by Maria Schrader. With Lola Petticrew, Katherine Laheen, Zoe Kazan, Carey Mulligan. Jodi Kantor and Megan Twohey's quest to break the Harvey Weinstein scandal.
She Said
bertobellamy. Jan 6, 2023. Just as 'Spotlight,' 'She Said" dissects a real journalistic investigation to give insight into how, in this case, Harvey Weinstein was taken down. But unlike the Academy Award-winning film, this one barely touches upon the personal struggle of its protagonists.
'She Said' review: Inside the Weinstein investigation
Review: Women's voices and the facts power no-nonsense journalistic drama 'She Said'. Zoe Kazan, left, and Carey Mulligan in the movie "She Said.". (JoJo Whilden / Universal Pictures) By ...
'She Said' Movie Review: Harvey Weinstein Gets Incendiary Film
Editor's note: This review was originally published at the 2022 New York Film Festival. Universal releases the film in theaters on Friday, November 18. When eventual Pulitzer Prize winners Jodi ...
She Said review: A stirring but uneven take on a #MeToo reckoning
She Said review: A stirring but ... Leah Greenblatt is the critic at large at Entertainment Weekly, covering movies, music, books, and theater. She is a member of the New York Film Critics Circle ...
'She Said' review: Carey Mulligan and Zoe Kazan star as the New York
"She Said" nevertheless joins a long tradition of movies about dogged reporters exposing injustice, and in this case helping spawn a sweeping movement. CNN values your feedback 1.
She Said Review: Zoe Kazan Stars in Emotional Recount of ...
Maria Schrader's direction and Rebecca Lenkiewicz's writing hit every important beat just right, leaving us with an impactful film that's genuine and never fake. Rating: B+. She Said comes to ...
She Said Review: Conflicting Yet Important Film With Great Performances
Director Maria Schrader brings to life Kantor and Twohey's novel, which uncovers the process of taking down powerful men who misuse their power. She Said is a good-enough recounting of a crucial story, but the unreasonably long runtime struggles to sustain its intended conviction. Throughout her feature, Schrader makes a valiant attempt to ...
'She Said' Pays Tribute to the Reporters Who Brought Down a Monster
Carey Mulligan and Zoe Kazan are the NYT reporters who finally broke the Harvey Weinstein assault story, one phone call and slammed door at a time. By David Fear. November 17, 2022. Carey Mulligan ...
She Said (film)
She Said is a 2022 American drama film directed by Maria Schrader and written by Rebecca Lenkiewicz, based on the 2019 book of the same title by reporters Jodi Kantor and Megan Twohey.The film stars Carey Mulligan and Zoe Kazan as Twohey and Kantor, respectively, and follows their New York Times investigation that exposed Harvey Weinstein's history of abuse and sexual misconduct against women.
She Said Movie Review
Our review: Parents say ( 2 ): Kids say ( 4 ): This drama is a cinematic earthquake. Audiences will be moved by She Said 's powerful storytelling, focused tenacity, and the courage of the women who went on the record to help topple a monster. The movie elicits a physical reaction: Viewers may feel their insides rumble with outrage, frustration ...
Movie Review: 'She Said'
Moviefone. November 19, 2022 - 8 min read. (L to R) Carey Mulligan and Zoe Kazan in 'She Said,' directed by Maria Schrader. One of the toughest genres of movie to get right is the based-on-truth ...
She Said (2022) Movie Reviews
Two-time Academy Award® nominee Carey Mulligan and Zoe Kazan star as New York Times reporters Megan Twohey and Jodi Kantor, who together broke one of the most important stories in a generation— a story that helped propel the #Metoo movement, shattered decades of silence around the subject of sexual assault in Hollywood and altered American culture forever.
She Said Review
She Said will debut in theaters on Nov. 18, 2022. She Said traces the genesis of one of modern media's defining stories: the New York Times report detailing the allegations against Harvey ...
She Said
by Ella Kemp |. Published on 24 11 2022. Release Date: 24 Nov 2022. Original Title: She Said. Journalists are rarely interesting enough to be the centre of a film. There's a reason we tell other ...

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