An oft-repeated quotation usually attributed to the writer Margaret Atwood — it’s actually a paraphrase, but no matter — posits that men are afraid women will laugh at them, while women are afraid men will murder them. It’s repeated frequently because it has the ring of truth. Most women have experienced the panicked discomfort of placating a man who seems unhappy with some response of hers, because it’s unclear what will happen if she doesn’t. Whether he is a guy at a bar, an explosive partner, a random stranger, a colleague after hours or someone else, her own unease takes a back seat to mollifying his bruised ego.
“Woman of the Hour,” directed by Anna Kendrick and written by Ian McDonald, is this maxim in the form of a feature-length movie. It’s based on the true story of Rodney Alcala, a serial killer who sexually assaulted his victims. He was convicted of murdering six women and one girl in the 1970s, though text at the end of the movie states that some authorities believe he murdered as many as 130 women.
Alcala also, improbably, appeared as Bachelor No. 1 on a 1978 episode of “The Dating Game,” right in the middle of a yearslong killing spree. He won, though the woman on the show subsequently declined to go on a date with him because he creeped her out.
That “Dating Game” appearance, lightly fictionalized (he’s become Bachelor No. 3, for one thing), provides one of the main narrative threads in “Woman of the Hour,” named for the woman who queries the three bachelor contestants during the show. Kendrick plays the woman, here named Sheryl, an aspiring actress on the verge of giving up altogether and leaving Los Angeles. Her agent convinces her to go on the show because it will get her “seen,” and Sheryl reluctantly agrees.
There are other women in other timelines, too. In 1979, a teenage runaway (Autumn Best) is trying to find somewhere to sleep and meets a gentle man who compliments her looks. In 1971, a flight attendant (Kathryn Gallagher) is moving into her new New York City apartment and asks the guy across the street for help. In 1977, a pregnant woman abandoned by her boyfriend (Kelley Jakle) has met a longhaired photographer who seems like a sweet guy. And in 1978, a woman (Nicolette Robinson) attending a taping of “The Dating Game” suddenly begins to feel nervous about one of the guys onstage.
Obviously the common element here is the man, Alcala (Daniel Zovatto, ably flipping his vibe from harmless to terrifying). He carries out his crimes by flattering his victims, asking to take their pictures. Yet, he’s not the only man in the movie, all of whom embody to varying degrees some kind of misogyny, or worse. Annoying neighbors, well-meaning boyfriends, unhelpful movers, lecherous casting directors and, of course, the host of “The Dating Game” (played to smarmy perfection by Tony Hale) — they’re all tiresome obstructions to these women, who are just trying to exist in the world. Repeatedly the women find themselves trying to appease the men, giving up dignity, respect and personal space for self-protection — which is why Alcala finds it so easy to move in.
“Woman of the Hour” is adjacent to true crime, but it’s fictionalized enough to qualify as a straightforward drama. (The runaway, in particular, is based on a real woman who testified that Alcala had raped and strangled her in 1979, when she was herself a 15-year-old hitchhiker.) It’s also Kendrick’s feature directorial debut, and it’s competently handled, particularly when balancing the buoyant goofiness of a TV game show with a menacing undertone. The storytelling is smooth, even bouncing around four different timelines.
Kendrick’s performance is also the best of the bunch — Sheryl is constantly annoyed, frustrated, denigrated or frightened, but she knows she has to stay upbeat, funny and winsome, because that’s who a young aspiring actress like her needs to be. The two poles clash internally, but we mostly see it only in her eyes.
As a drama, “Woman of the Hour” is effective and infuriating. But about midway through, it starts to feel a bit too self-consciously illustrative. This is a story with a lesson to teach the audience: Women are uncomfortable far more than they let on, and that means a predator like Alcala can move through the world undetected for years. It’s a truth worth illustrating.
But when every character feels like an example, a Type of Guy (or Girl), they get a little flat. I don’t think that was the goal here. It would be strange to aim for two-dimensional characterizations in a movie about how women feel reduced to projections of fantasy or desire. The issue is the film’s many concurrent narratives in such a limited running time — we simply can’t get to know anyone long enough to see beyond their exterior, even Sheryl.
But that’s not a deal breaker. “Woman of the Hour” is still worth watching. And, to its credit, it evinces no fascination with Alcala; he is the perpetrator, not a subject of psychological or emotional interest. He could, you get the feeling, be any random guy who walks through the frame. I suppose that’s the whole point.
The post ‘Woman of the Hour’ Review: Who is Bachelor No. 3? appeared first on New York Times.