Review of Bombshell (2019) by Bertaut1 — 03 Feb 2020

A well-acted film about the human cost of bullying and sexual harassment.

Although it lacks subtlety and factual insight, Bombshell is entertaining, brilliantly acted, and paints a horrifying picture of workplace bullying and sexual harassment. The film tells the story of three women at Fox News - Megyn Kelly (Charlize Theron), who becomes embroiled in controversy when she asks Donald Trump about his history of misogyny; Gretchen Carlson (Nicole Kidman) who is fired from the channel, having already complained about sexist treatment in 2013, and who now plans to sue president Roger Ailes (John Lithgow), who she claims sexually harassed her for years; and research assistant Kayla Pospisil (Margot Robbie playing a composite character) who learns what Ailes means when he says he will need evidence of her "loyalty".

Written by Charles Randolph and directed by Jay Roach, Bombshell's depiction of the nature of sexual harassment in a corporate arena that's male-dominated and female-enabled is chillingly effective, with the film depicting an environment in which women are victims whether they resist or submit to sexual advances – resist, and they risk their job; submit, and they lose their self-respect.

At the same time, Roach is not trying to examine the monolithic political ideology of Fox News itself. Sure, it features lines such as Ailes claiming, "news is like a ship, you take your hands off the wheel and it pulls hard to the left", whilst Pospisil is told the main goal of the channel is to "frighten and titillate", but these are the exceptions. Instead, the film is about self-loathing, fear, and anxiety – it's about workplace bullying and the human cost of sexual harassment, and part of the film's point is that politics are irrelevant – sexual harassment is sexual harassment, and your politics, religious beliefs, race, and gender are all beside the point.

Something that works especially well is the triptych narrative structure. It's not an even divide (this is Kelly's film before it is Carlson's or Pospisil's), but it does allow Roach to dramatise how much Ailes looks on his female staff as commodities. Carlson is the washed-up former beauty queen who no longer holds his interest; Kelly is the current flavour of the month; Pospisil is the future, young, vital, keen, and in awe of the man himself, as all women should be – for every Carlson, there's a Kelly to replace her, and for every Kelly, there's a Pospisil ready for grooming.

From an acting perspective, Theron is extremely impressive. Normally, she looks nothing like Kelly, but through posture, mannerisms, wardrobe, voice, and the subtle prosthetic genius of Kazu Hiro, the actress disappears into the character in a deeply impressive performance that transcends mere imitation. The other standout is Lithgow, whose performance is fascinatingly modulated. He initially portrays Ailes as a flawed human being, and it's only later that he lets the monster out of the box, in a horrifying scene in which he asks an increasingly uncomfortable Pospisil to hike her skirt higher and higher, to the point where her underwear is showing, as he becomes increasingly aroused, indicated by nothing but his breathing. It's a nauseating scene which gets to the film's core – Ailes knows that if women like Pospisil value their job, they'll submit, just as they have done for men like him throughout history; as he sees it, ambitious women will always need powerful men.

As for problems, the film is probably too silent on some of Kelly's history. I understand that Roach wants to avoid anything resembling victim-blaming. But if you knew nothing about these events, you'd think the only controversy Kelly ever encountered at Fox was asking Trump about misogyny. There's no mention, for example, of her infamous "Jesus was a white man" comment from 2013. Granted, it doesn't have much to do with the story at hand, but my point is a general one. The film's Kelly is almost virginal, without blemish. Interestingly, the film does address that Kelly knew about Ailes for years before Carlson was fired, and it takes her to task for not doing anything with that knowledge. However, after she watched the film, the real Kelly cited this scene as an example of victim-blaming – make of that what you will.

Certainly, the opportunity for Kelly to explain why she stayed silent for so long is available, but is never availed of. But is that a fault of the filmmakers or a reflection on the actual person's reluctance to take that journey inward? Sure, the film is at pains to avoid showing either Carlson or Kelly as in any way complicit in creating the hideously outdated patriarchy at Fox. But this is by design. Were Bombshell a story about Fox News, such things ought to be examined. But it isn't. It's a story about humiliation and bullying, a story that says people do not deserve such treatment, no matter their race, religion, or politics.