Stephen Hepworth

The journalists and produces behind the Prince Andrew interview probably did do an excellent job behind-the-scenes but as far as this film goes behind-the-scenes is where it belongs. Their home lives and their struggles with BBC office politics are just not the stuff of theatre. Scoop is a corny and vainglorious attempt to big them up into heroes and heroines. It was boring, really really boring. And it knew it. That’s why it had so much irritating percussive music getting louder and louder as the action got weaker and weaker. Great crescendos accompanying people who are doing no more opening doors or picking up mobile phones and so much electronic woo wooing that Billy Piper could’ve been forgiven to thinking she was back on Doctor Who. And as for the self congratulatory, “we shall fight them on the beaches” speech at the end by the Newsnight executive whose name I have already forgotten. Well, it just became laughable. But, what went on with Epstine and his.powerful friends, and those poor girls was no laughing matter. What they went through was wicked and very real. We should not allow the movies and the media to turn it into easy to digest mush. In a few years time. we’re going to cringe at this film. Or at least I hope we are. The story of a single trafficked girl or a single deluded aristocrat could’ve been insightful like Steve Coogan‘s Jimmy Savile. But for Netflix to dig up a lot of famous actors to give excellent portrayals, that capture the essence of people, we’ve never heard and have no need to? No. This was no more than a lame ego fest riding on the back of a tragedy.

This film is hard work. Not because of its in-depth content, but simply the dialogue is babbled at such a frantic pace that it is almost impossible to understand what if anything is going on. The characters talk at each other, not with each other and what they say, merges into the background, almost as if the whole thing was recorded with a single microphone. This may be a good metaphor for the narcissistic Bernstein, but it puts all the characters on one level. Somebody has obviously directed them to speak this way, and to my mind only the sensitive acting of Carrie Mulligan has really survived. The costumes set and cinematography, however are excellent, I would suggest putting on some of Bernstein‘s music and watching this film with subtitles and the Sound turned off.