In the summer of 2016, Fox News hosted daytime program host Gretchen Carlson. Neither the general director of the channel, nor the staff of lawyers, nor the journalist herself were ready for what followed this decision.

Director Jay Roach (Austin Powers, Acquaintance with Parents) decided to tell about the process during which one of the most influential people in the American media industry lost his high post, and at the same time his reputation as a respectable person. In his new film, which will be released in Russia this week, he has involved Nicole Kidman, Charlize Theron and Margot Robbie.

The film has three storylines through which the filmmakers decided to demonstrate the diversity of forms of discrimination in journalism: conflicts with superiors, problems in relationships with powerful men and, finally, misunderstanding on the part of other women.

The central storyline is dedicated to the real story that happened with the host Gretchen Carlson. She hosted the popular morning television show Fox and Friends, where she was constantly attacked by male colleagues.

From 2013 to 2016, Carlson was involved in the program The Real Story With Gretchen Carlson - this television program was broadcast in the daytime and gathered a smaller audience. Finally, in the summer of 2016, when the presenter was not renewed, she decided to sue the Fox News Channel CEO Roger Isles himself. According to the journalist, the boss was directly related to the dismissal of Carlson, since she refused him close relations.

Another storyline is built around events that relate to the main plot indirectly (but, nevertheless, also happened in reality): this is the mid-2010s and the election race in the USA, one of the brightest characters of which, obviously, was Donald Trump .

Megin Kelly, an employee of Fox News, clashed with a businessman and politician during a television debate. With her questions about the candidate’s attitude towards women, she unbalanced the opponent, and in response he launched a large-scale and long-term campaign against her on the Internet.

  • Scene from the movie "Scandal"
  • © imdb.com

The third part of the tape is a fictional, unlike the other two, story about producer Kyle, who dreams of becoming the lead. Kayla is the perfect American conservative who sincerely believes in God and Fox News.

Nevertheless, the heroine will have to understand from her own experience that the “fidelity” of the corporation has nothing to do with traditional values, and the key to career growth here is a miniskirt that needs to be raised even higher.

Kayla, rather, is a collective image: on her example, the creators of the tape decided to show how sexual harassment looks exactly, without involving heroines with real prototypes in especially piquant scenes.

By the way, Robbie, as always, showed a decent acting game - which makes us empathize with the heroine, who, through sincere embarrassment and shame, says goodbye to illusions. However, the director, along with the screenwriter Charles Randolph, clearly overdid it in attempts to make the heroine childishly naive and unconditionally committed to her TV channel (so much so that the screen of her old TV burned out in the place where the logo is located). This and other similar moments made Robbie's convincing image grotesque and artificial.

“Scandal” is distinguished by the style of the documentary. The main action is preceded by a brief report on the device of Fox Corporation, made in the form of a report: Charlize Theron in the image of Megin Kelly talks in detail about the structure of the office and the corporate hierarchy - in particular, the second floor where the great and terrible, all-seeing and the all-powerful Roger Isles.

Also included are genuine documentary footage. This presentation makes the film more believable (its creators even decided to remind viewers that they would see actors, not real personalities).

  • Scene from the movie "Scandal"
  • © imdb.com

The tape raises the topic of public attitudes towards conflicts of this kind. So, even the lawyers of Gretchen Carlson dissuade her from litigation, since they were initially set to defeat. Even the women who later told how Isles forced them to be close, at first refused to support Carlson (but later followed the example of Megin Kelly, who, after much hesitation and her own investigation, decided to testify against the boss).

This approach fits perfectly into the American agenda: from scandals involving sexual discrimination and harassment, women turned to accusing each other of allegedly supporting unacceptable behavior of men and men in principle (Rose McGone, who opposed Harvey Weinstein, recently decided to convict Natalie Portman of hypocrisy).

By the way, “Scandal” took part in the 2020 Oscar race. Charlize Theron claimed the statuette for the main female role (although more screen time was devoted to the heroine Nicole Kidman). Margot Robbie was nominated for a prize for a supporting role - however, academics considered Laura Dern, who appeared in the film "Marriage Story", to be more convincing.

According to the results of the Oscar ceremony, hairdressers and make-up artists received the project - the difficulty of their work was to give the actors the maximum resemblance to real personalities well-known to many American television viewers (the only exception is the fictional heroine Margot Robbie). In this nomination, “Scandal” competed with other Oscar-winning paintings - “Judy” and “1917”.