In her directorial debut, Anna Kendrick (Alice, Darling, Up in the Air) displays a knack for her work behind the camera, rivaling her ability to perform in front of it. Her insights into the powerful, disturbing, and thought-provoking film Woman of the Hour, a film about the murders committed by Rodney Alcala (Daniel Zovatto – Lady Bird, Don’t Breathe), a serial killer who appeared on a 1978 episode of “The Dating Game” in the middle of his killing spree years.
In her film, Kendrick stars Sheryl, an aspiring actress who begrudgingly agrees to go on the dating show to jump-start her career. Beautiful, charismatic, and full of charm in a girl-next-door kind of way, Sheryl is the perfect balance of innocence and sweetness. However, despite its title and its A-list actor, it is far less about Sheryl and more about Rodney. We spend the majority of time with Rodney, whether it be through flashbacks, flashforwards, or as a contestant on the popular game show.
Kendrick chose a non-linear approach to tell her story. It was an ambitious way to tell a unique story. Using flashbacks to tell parts of a story is relatively simple. Flashforwards are much more demanding, as the director doesn’t want to give too much away. In doing so, Kendrick chose to show us what happened after filming “The Dating Game” rather than telling us with text cards. Ultimately, it didn’t work as well as it could have, though I think the ambiguity was more deliberate than unintentional.
There has been a slowly growing trend in film narratives to embrace unresolved endings. By abandoning tidy resolutions, a filmmaker can more authentically depict real life’s chaotic and unpredictable nature. This approach encourages audiences to engage more deeply with the material, sparking conversations about the enduring impact of trauma and the necessity of recognizing its complexity. Many will draw similarities between Woman of the Hour and David Fincher’s Zodiac, which frustrated me after my first watch because it lacked a satisfying conclusion. However, upon rewatch, Zodiac is a masterclass in character obsession, with the lives of our lead characters falling apart as they attempt to crack the code of an insolvable game of cat and mouse. Kendrick does not go the character obsession route but doesn’t wrap things up nicely and tidily.
A cold open of a man (Rodney) admiring a beautiful woman as he photographs her in a remote location. He has a warm smile, kind eyes, and a tender voice that tells the woman everything she wants to hear. In an instant, his features grow cold, and he violently attacks the woman, strangling her until she goes unconscious before waiting for her to wake up, just so that he can do it to her again before finally putting her out of her misery. And so, it sets in motion what we know about Rodney but what the other characters are unaware of.
Praying on runaways, innocent teenagers, and others susceptible to danger, his voluntary appearance on “The Dating Game” contrasts his norm. It’s as if Rodney developed a God-complex, almost toying with law enforcement’s inability to track him. Why a serial killer would risk discovery by appearing on a dating game show exemplifies his sense of invincibility. Rodney one-ups the two other contestants with his thoughtful answers, quick wit, and charm.
While we catch brief glimpses of Rodney’s brutal attacks, Kendrick films them either from a distance or in extreme close-ups, deliberately minimizing or obscuring the violence. She builds tension in these moments with a soundtrack of ambient sound, birds chirping in the wind, the hum of fluorescent lights, and distant traffic, all heightening the unease. Just before the violence becomes sensational or exploitative, the director abruptly cuts away, forcing the viewer to confront their voyeurism, a sensation she has the power to withhold. Instead, she focuses on the subtle, everyday moments of menace, such as the men behind the scenes on the game show touching Sheryl’s neck or hair without her consent. Kendrick has a skill for reinforcing the terror experienced by Rodney’s victims in a way without showing it or glamorizing it.
Throughout the game show, Kendrick’s direction returns us to flashbacks and flashforwards to reinforce that the dynamic Rodney, who is smooth-talking his way in front of Sheryl and the live studio audience, is a predatory, heartless killer. Unfamiliar with the show’s format or how it makes the woman asking the questions feel, Sheryl creates a set of probing and somewhat confrontational questions for her male suitors instead of relying on the prewritten questions, much to the chagrin of the show’s host, Ed (Tony Hale – television’s Arrested Development, The Informant!).
Sadly, Woman of the Hour seems far more applicable in 2024 than when the crimes were committed. What might have felt like a once-in-a-decade ‘bad guy decides something bad and gets away with it‘ now feels uncomfortably relevant, whether the assailant is never found or, perhaps worse, the assailant is apprehended but is not adequately punished. Kendrick delivered a knockout performance in her 2022 film Alice, Darling, in which she played a character pushed to the breaking point by her psychologically abusive boyfriend. As a director and lead actor, she takes Woman of the Hour to the next level of unease with her subtle nuances, perhaps relying as much or more on her experiences as she did her research.
Despite only having a couple of face-to-face scenes, Kendrick and Zovatto shine. As an audience, we have already come to know each of their characters better than the two characters know each other. By this point, the director has already created a hard line between good and evil. Rodney is not the suave man that the taping of The Dating Game portrays. We have a rooting interest in Sheryl. The tension the two actors bring to their characters in face-to-face interactions could be cut like a knife. While Kendrick’s direction makes Woman of the Hour a must-see, her vision needed these two actors to deliver, which they did.
Plot 8/10
Character Development 8.5/10
Character Chemistry 8.5/10
Acting 8.75/10
Screenplay 8/10
Directing 9.25/10
Cinematography 9.75/10
Sound 9.25/10
Hook and Reel 9/10
Universal Relevance 9/10
88%
B+
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