Woman of the Hour

by Hope Madden

The Seventies were wild, weren’t they? No seatbelts, ashtrays at McDonald’s, gameshows fixed unsuspecting women up with wanted criminals. Plus, shag carpet!

Anna Kendrick makes her directorial debut with Woman of the Hour, which revisits a popular 70s gameshow and its seriously suspect casting direction. Cheryl Bradshaw (Kendrick), a struggling actor waiting for a break, agrees to appear on The Dating Game.

This was a real show where a woman would ask mortifyingly innuendo-riddled questions (supplied by the producers) to three male contestants hidden behind a screen. Each contestant would respond with their own innuendo, and at the end of the episode, the woman would choose a date. The show would then send her away with a man she didn’t know at all.

And if that doesn’t sound dangerous enough, on one episode, Contestant #3 was honest to God serial killer Rodney Alcala (Daniel Zovatto).

Though Kendrick’s Cheryl is the titular “Woman of the Hour”, her instinct as a filmmaker is to share the spotlight with a number of other women—witness, survivor, victims. The choice, which presumably began with Ian McDonald’s compelling script, is in keeping with a long-overdue move toward deflating the mysterious air often given to serial killers, instead respecting the perspectives of the people who should still be alive to tell their own tales.

It’s a powerful choice that keeps the film from feeling lurid while creating emotional connection that amps up tensions.

Cheryl’s backstory lets us see how even this smart woman caves to the need to be polite, and how that instinct is manipulated by individual men, but also (and more catastrophically) by the systems that support society. The conflict fuels Kendrick’s every smile, every glance, every expression. It’s a subtle but authentic performance.

Zovatto takes on a D’Onofrio-esque presence as the charming psychopath. He’s at his best in the character’s quietly sinister moments, nuanced shifts in his interior playing with quiet menace across his face.

A tight and emotionally honest supporting cast and a handful of excruciatingly tense moments keep the thriller gripping whether you know its outcome or not. Woman of the Hour takes on a story that could easily have been exploitation, delivering instead a thrilling, reverent, angry witness.