How two journalists exposed Harvey Weinstein’s sex crimes

EVER SINCE “Jaws” and “Alien”, film-makers have understood that you do not need to show viewers a monster to make them fear it. Demonstrating the destruction it leaves in its wake—and leaving the audience to gauge the extent of the threat—can be just as effective as a horrifying spectacle.

So it is with “She Said”, a new film that dramatises the depredations of Harvey Weinstein, a former Hollywood producer. Since 2017 more than 80 women have come forward with allegations of misconduct against him; he is currently serving a 23-year prison sentence after being convicted of sexually assaulting two women. (He is also facing further charges in Los Angeles and London.) For most of the movie’s two-hour running time, the serial predator, played by Mike Houston, does not appear on screen; instead he is described by his victims or features as an angry, disembodied voice. When his hulking form does come into view, in the final few minutes, it is his back or his side profile, rather than his face, that viewers see. It still makes the stomach turn.