Newspapers are an old business, but they move faster than Hollywood. So There She Goes , the landmark movie that claims to be the biggest release of the year, comes ten years after the breaking news: Harvey Weinstein's rape and abuse of women in 2017. Weinstein turned the American film industry into a cautionary tale. So the film comes with a hint of The Confessor: a belated self-evaluation of the studio system.
Most of the revelations were first revealed here by New York Times reporters Megan Toohey and Jodi Cantor, played by Carey Mulligan and Zoe Kazan. Their investigation into Weinstein is central to the story. The five years between then and now give the film the air of a classic period piece with a dry twist. We open a year earlier in 2016, with Toohey searching for a Mogadishu suspected of raping women. History has not deterred Donald Trump.
We remember that this is all the real world. Actress and hacker Ashley Judd plays herself, while another seasoned player, Samantha Morton, is Weinstein's former assistant. On screen, the film is a mirror game. Had they been born earlier, Mulligan and Kazan would have been part of the same generation of movie stars that Weinstein raised. But a certain distance has been traveled beyond the screen. Director Maria Schrader is German, and the film is her first major project in an American studio. The same applies to the British screenwriter Rebecca Lenkiewicz . Basically, the film has the Hollywood feel of being both, neither: a villain as pathetic as Jay's charge.
Adapted from Toohey and Kantor's book of the same name, Seid discusses the ins and outs of investigative journalism: sources, footwork, proper punctuation. The portrait of business – sarcastic, humorous – pleases many journalists. A gentleman laughed when the press screening I attended ended with applause. But the film has the directness and clarity of purpose to defy even the most jaded trolls, with a solid drive embodied by the cold-tempered Mulligan.
Weinstein himself is almost invisible. Instead, his actions show it, reported in detail through the eyes of a journalist. (His innocence frequently swears on the lives of his wife and children.) Mapping the dark underpinnings surrounding the crime is equally painful. Attorneys hired to represent women in non-disclosure agreements may charge a 40% fee. Remember what he told all the president's people , about two offending journalists and a scandal from another era: after the money.
Nothing changes? This ominous tension may explain the film's quiet, incredulous tone. 2017 seems like a long time ago; Much of Hollywood clearly believes #MeToo is over. He learned to learn an antiseptic corporate language. Time will tell. For most of the women featured in the film, the industry has gone too long without them. He said what he said. And whatever Weinstein did, was done.
★★★★☆
In US and UK cinemas from November 25
