WOMAN OF THE HOUR

Anna Kendrick makes an assured directing debut in this seventies-set culled-from-the-headlines serial killer story, even if the narrative nor the themes spring a lot of surprises.

Truth is often stranger than fiction and that certainly is the case for the events depicted in Woman of the Hour. The film shows how a man who assaulted and killed numerous women throughout the seventies could go undetected for years, despite appearing on the TV show The Dating Game.

This latter, most intriguing part of the story takes up the biggest chunk of Women of the Hour, though the narrative regularly jumps back and forth in time to other encounters between the culprit and his young female victims. Thanks to an excellent performance of Anna Kendrick it’s also the best part of the picture, and one you wish the screenplay would have focused even more on.

Because while the flashbacks and flashforwards make sense from a storytelling perspective, they take away some of the building tension of the Dating Game segment. It doesn’t help either that the other women who are attacked by the serial killer are barely fleshed out as characters.

Still, despite that caveat, Anna Kendrick shows promise as a director. She might not provide any visual innovations, but she keeps the pace brisk, chooses interesting shots and gets some timely, if at times heavy-handed, comments about gaslighting and rape culture in there.

Overall Woman of the Hour contains enough thematically interesting undercurrents, creeping tension and entertainment value to recommend a watch, but don’t expect to be blown away.

release: 2024

director: Anna Kendrick

starring: Anna Kendrick, Daniel Zovatto, Autumn Best, Tony Hale