Review: Woman of the Hour an ‘excellent’ film about courageous women who bucked the system

Woman of the Hour is based on the case of 1970s serial killer Rodney Alcala. Photo / Netflix

Woman of the Hour (R, 95 mins) Streaming on Netflix

Directed by Anna Kendrick

Reviewed by Jen Shieff

Scene after carefully crafted scene, Ian McDonald’s script, Anna Kendrick’s direction and her superb acting as the central character aspiring actor Cheryl Bradshaw, Daniel Zavatto as the creepy villain Rodney Alcala and Autumn Best as runaway Amy, terrific sets, costumes and music all make Woman of the Hour an excellent film.

The story, based on fact, shows Alcala styling himself as a professional photographer to flatter a series of young Wyoming women, luring them into his car and driving them to a remote area where he would photograph them before attacking and killing them.

Cheryl, battling 1970s film industry sexism, is persuaded by her agent to be the star of a TV programme called The Dating Game, a forerunner of The Bachelor and Naked Attraction, as a way to get her big break, like Sally Field.

The way Alcala “always gets the girl” to use his words, underpins this gripping story. One of the three bachelors Cheryl must choose from, Alcala is the coolest and smartest of the three.

He’s brazenly put himself onto the show, apparently not vetted, and yet a quick internet search shows he’d already been jailed for child molestation and has done heinous things leading to his being on the FBI’s most wanted list.

Matt Murphy, with whom Anna Kendrick consulted as a former homicide prosecutor who’d worked on the Alcala case, spoke with Guardian writer David Smith, saying: “Rodney Alcala had a Mensa-level certified genius IQ. He was handsome, he was articulate, he had friends, he had girlfriends.

“He was not a social outcast, he had family who loved him. And he loved sadistically raping and murdering people.”

Good-looking, sophisticated, charming and quick-witted, Alcala’s appeal is easy to understand, as is his being chosen as a The Dating Game contestant.

Murphy adds that Alcala sat on stage in a brown bell-bottom suit, but already had blood on his hands.

“It speaks to the narcissism, the arrogance of psychopaths. He’s in the middle of a murder spree and he went on The Dating Game.”

The film provides important insights into the difficulties of getting into the movie industry of the 1970s and how hard women had to fight the system not only to get a job, but also to be heard if things weren’t right.

It’s not a me-too film although it describes a period in American social and filmmaking history that gives more than a glimpse into how the me-too movement gathered its strength 50 years ago.

Woman of the Hour isn’t just another serial killer story.

Like those, it has a few gruesome scenes, elements of horror and a lot of suspense but it’s much more a story about courageous, ingenious women who bucked the system and survived than it is about the disordered personality of an evil perpetrator.

Alcala looms everywhere, but it’s not all about him. It’s only in the epilogue that we’re told about the tragic extent of his crimes.

Ingenious directing by Anna Kendrick, outstanding acting, filmmaking at its best.

★★★★★