A portrait of the work and life of controversial film critic Pauline Kael, and her battle to achieve success and influence in the 20th-century movie business.
The irony of reviewing a film about the most notorious film critic of all time is inescapable. I’ll stick to the basics. According to the late Roger Ebert, Pauline Kael was “the most powerful, loved, and hated film critic of her time.” Kael’s biting reviews were, indeed, divisive to say the least; she had as many detractors as she did appreciators. Rob Garver’s entertaining documentary, “What She Said: The Art of Pauline Kael” delves into the life and times of the by turns vicious, uncompromising, insightful, and supportive cinephile.
“What She Said: The Art of Pauline Kael” is filled with entertaining anecdotes from famous filmmakers and critics — Renata Adler’s criticism of Kael’s criticism alone, wherein she attempts to “out-Pauline Pauline,” is worth the price of admission. Film buffs will lap this up, and the rest may just learn a thing or two about the great Art that is Cinema.
Sarah Jessica Parker voices/narrates Pauline, reading autobiographical excerpts, from Kael’s upbringing and falling in love with silent films to writing full-time for The New Yorker. In-between, folks like Paul Schrader, Alec Baldwin, Francis Ford Coppola, Quentin Tarantino, and David O. Russell offer their two cents about Pauline’s work. Garver wisely avoids embellishments and trusts the story to be inherently compelling enough to hold our attention.
Pauline shook David Lean to the core with her scathing remarks at what was supposed to be a social gathering. Her controversial, negative review of Claude Lanzmann’s classic “Shoah” led to accusations of being a “self-hating Jew.” She hated Charlie Chaplin’s “Limelight,” despised Alain Resnais’ “Hiroshima Mon Amour,” and claimed that Fellini’s “La Dolce Vita” was about the meandering lives of the bored and rich.
She praised films from Japan and loved Godard, but hated American films — at least until the “tsunami” of instant classics (from the likes of Coppola, Lynch, Scorsese, De Palma, Peckinpah) that followed Arthur Penn’s paradigm-shifting “Bonnie and Clyde.” Amongst a slew of haters, Kael recognized the lasting genius of that film.
Pauline swam against the current, which made her stand out, become both a proponent of soon-to-be great auteurs and a stumbling block for others — Ridley Scott’s bitter reaction to her “Blade Runner” review is one of the highlights. She wrote multiple books, examined cinema as Great Trash vs Terrible Art (I’m obviously paraphrasing here). Garver’s film is a loving tribute, but he makes sure not to sugarcoat her personality, showcasing how a critic’s words have the power to derail potential.
Pauline passed away in 2001 when she was 82 years young. She, among the likes of Ebert, was one of the last Great Critics, world-renowned, respected and hated in equal measures, someone who could make or break a career. Love her or loathe her, Pauline’s love for film is palpable (as is Rob Garver’s love for Pauline). Make this a double-feature with Steve James’ Roger Ebert biography ‘Life Itself.’
Now available on DVD and Digital
