Thoughts on The Accused

 

via The Film Experience

"... Cause I do know you, 'Sxy Sadi.'"
"You just got me mixed up with somebody else."
"Nope. You're the girl from The Mill that night. Hmm?"
*Sarah (Jodie Foster), triggered, gets in her car as "Scorpion" (Leo Rossi) laughs*
"I remember Sxy Sadi! I do know you! Am I right? Hey, Sxy Sadi! I know you! *Mimics sex with his fingers* Oh, do I remember you!"
*Sarah, initially too distraught to drive away, gets cornered in the parking lot by Scorpion's truck*
"Hey, wanna play pinball?"

Show, don't tell. Every screenwriter knows this. The rule can be broken, but it's rare. It happened in The Silence of the Lambs, in the scene where the title's explained. Perhaps even rarer is when a movie decides to show and tell. The Accused, directed by Jonathan Kaplan and written by Tom Topor, follows Sarah recalling being victimized by six men (three rapists and three criminal solicitors), including what happened leading up to the crime, with a thorough, roughly 13-minute depiction of what happened. It's the boldest choice in The Accused, one that's unforgettable (and to some audience members, maybe unexpected). It's also shameless and gratuitous.

Jodie Foster won both the Oscar and the Golden Globe for The Accused. In both instances, her nomination was the only one received by the movie. That's pretty impressive for a performance that seems calculated to not be a star turn. Then again, what could be more of a star turn than a seemingly stealth one? It's seemingly because The Accused is unmistakably Jodie's movie. Kelly McGillis is better than the reviews she got for playing Kathryn, an assistant district attorney redeemed by going the distance for Sarah, whose case she initially resolved with a plea bargain. But despite Kelly getting first billing*, Kathryn is clearly not the one we're supposed to care about. Which, of course, means that I did care.

*It helps that her two previous movies for Paramount, Witness and Top Gun, were blockbusters.

Variety disliked Kathryn having "no psychology or background offered up." I didn't see that as a liability. The role was nearly played by Jane Fonda, whose then-recent filmography included Agnes of God. If you remember my review of that movie, I complained about how the original play contrived to make audiences feel a bond between Martha (Jane's character) and Agnes. There's no "good" way to force Kathryn into caring about Sarah, like having it turn out that Kathryn had also been raped**. Kathryn has only the most obvious reasons to care, because it is her job and because Sarah has been especially brutalized. These happen to be the best reasons.

**This is where I obligatorily mention that McGillis herself was raped years before the movie's production.

"The Accused stands absolutely, irrevocably, foursquarely against rape. But if one member of the audience watches the staging of Sarah Tobias' dance in that back room and feels she's even partially culpable, then the exploitation aspect of the movie has worked against its stated purpose." -- Sheila Benson, Los Angeles Times

In it's own way, The Accused is both as much a period piece and as timely as Dangerous Liaisons is. After it happens, Sarah's flirting, dancing and gang rape exist only in memories. It wasn't recorded on a cell phone or covert security camera. For that matter, Ken (Bernie Coulson) having to leave The Mill to call for help (and the 911 operator prioritizing his identity over the location and situation). In 2021, the law is supposedly more favorable for a sexual assault victims. Supposedly. I cringed when the attorney for Bob (Steve Antin), a college student, played the still-familiar "he's just a kid, he's got his life ahead of him" card. "Toxic masculinity" is a cliche, but I saw it when Bob bowed for his fraternity brothers after the rape made the local news. Or when Scorpion goaded Stu (Tom McBeath) (or was it Matt (Andrew Kavadas)?) into being Sarah's next rapist. I disagree with Rita Kempley. Male aggression was on trial.

With all that said, I'm reviewing a movie and only a movie. I was affected by The Accused because it was calculated to push my buttons. For every bit of low-key brilliance, like Ann Hearn's performance as Sarah's unintentionally-incriminating friend Sally, there's a forced element. I want to praise Jodie's performance more than I can. It's not especially natural. Once in a while, I felt like I could hear someone saying, "Tough chick, Jodie, remember to be a tough chick!" Still, I was impressed by the scene where Sarah's talking to her oblivious mom when she's alone after the rapes. And fascinated by the brief moment when Sarah's alone with Ken when it appears he's not going to testify. Jodie also had good chemistry opposite McGillis. For all of its faults, The Accused is at its best when it's the story of two women looking for justice.

"Anything I can do?"

"... Yeah."

"What?"

"... No deals. ... No deals."

"No deals."

Recommended with reservations.

Thoughts:
-- "Ladies and gentlemen: Mr. Paulsen has told you that the testimony of Sarah Tobias is nothing. Sarah Tobias was raped. But that is nothing. She was cut and bruised and terrorized. But that is nothing. All of it happened in front of a howling crowd. And that is nothing. ..."

-- Box Office: Grossing nearly $32.1 million on a $13 million budget, this opened at No. 1.

-- Awards Watch: In addition to winning the Oscar and Golden Globe, Jodie Foster was also nominated for the BAFTA. Yet again, she was the movie's only nominee. Jodie lost to Pauline Collins for Shirley Valentine. For the record, Jodie's Golden Globe win was part of a three-way tie with Sigourney Weaver for Gorillas in the Mist and Shirley MacLaine for Madame Sousatzka.

-- Critic's Corner: "A good, tough melodrama that follows its narrative line with the tight focus of a single-minded beagle," Vincent Canby wrote. He also felt the movie was "modest in its aims ... effective for the cliches it avoids." Benson: "A preachy, empty story (with) generous dollops of self-delusion (by the creative team)." Kempley, who contrasted The Accused ("underplayed and chilly") with Topor's previous Nuts ("flashy and melodramatic"), felt Kaplan became "dispassionate." "The rape scene ought to outrage, but it almost seems choreographed, the movie's oddly glossy climax," she wrote. "Jaffe and Lansing, who earlier produced Fatal Attraction ... seem to be making a career out of packaging women's rage," Denby observed.

-- Critic's Corner, Jodie: "Foster creates the ultimate victim without ever becoming a wimp, mixing dignity with defenselessness," according to Kempley. She completely outclassed the movie itself, Benson wrote. Canby: "Here she has the benefit of a very well written role. One day she will get a great one."

-- Hey, It's 2021!: In the years since The Accused, Antin, McGillis and Foster have all come out of the closet. This neither adds to nor takes away from the movie. It's another fact I'm obligatorily mentioning.

-- Hey, It's 1988!: The mullets. My god, the mullets.

-- Great Moments in Shilling: The music store scene features a poster for Kaplan's earlier Over the Edge.

-- Musical Moments: "I'm Talking Love" was written as a replacement for Prince's "Kiss," which was used during the filming of Sarah's dance. "At This Moment" plays earlier, as Kathryn investigates the back room. I also couldn't help noticing the poster for Aretha when Sarah was shopping.
-- "... These three men did worse than nothing. They cheered and they clapped and they rooted the others on. They made sure that Sarah Tobias was raped. And raped. And raped. Now, you tell me: is that nothing?"

-- Next: Working Girl. On deck: Gorillas in the Mist.