She Said

Megan Twohey, a reporter for the "New York Times", has reported on Donald Trump's alleged sexual assaults. Now she is on parental leave, Trump in the White House. The head of the Times' investigative team, Rebecca Corbett, does not consider the issue to be settled: she is putting research into sexualised violence in employment on the agenda. And she teams up the returned Twohey with Jodi Kantor, a colleague working on the "Harvey Weinstein case". Weinstein, star producer and head of Miramax, a production company famous for arthouse cinema, is alleged to have habitually sexually assaulted women in the industry, actresses and production staff, to the point of rape, over a period of years. And just as habitually, his lawyers covered up these cases - through blackmailed non-disclosure agreements.

Megan Twohey and Jodi Kantor won the Pulitzer Prize in 2018 for their work on abuse against women in dependent employment; the Weinstein revelations were one of the catalysts for the #MeToo campaign. Maria Schrader's film meticulously depicts the research that led to the groundbreaking publication in the "New York Times": much of the dialogue is authentic, filmed on real locations. "She Said" follows the enlightening tradition of the American reporter's film: at the centre are two "incorruptibles" in the service of truth. ( FILM OF THE MONTH of the Protestant Film Jury in Germany, December 2022)