Doublespeak (Short)
**Seen for the 2021 Sundance Film Festival.
“Doublespeak” makes for a great companion piece with last year’s “The Assistant,” also about a woman in an office which reeks of sexual harassment. The difference between the two, other than the length, is that Hazel McKibbin’s gripping short film is about the aftermath of reporting sexual harassment. For nine minutes, we are thrust into the perspective of Emma (Angela Wong Carbone) as she goes through an agonizing, and frustrating, meeting about the investigation launched because of her allegations. McKibbin’s film is claustrophobic in how it pulls us into Emma’s experience, and the performance by Carbone breaks our heart with how deflated she feels through the entire process. That alone makes it worth watching as drama.
Over three years after #MeToo took off in the public consciousness, we’re familiar with the retorts that women like Emma have had to fight back against when it comes to bringing up allegations of sexual harassment against someone like Peter (Frank Lewallen). The most frequent, especially when it comes to behavior that happened long before the woman comes forward, is “why” it took someone so long to come forward. While it’s an understandable question in a workplace environment where two people have worked together after the behavior happened, it’s also not our place to question that particular why; just move past any possible reasons, and do what is in the best interests of all involved in the present. Too often, what a company like the one Emma works at sees as in their “best interests” is only going to lead to more problems down the road, and the silent frustration we see in Emma after the meeting is palpable. That’s not where we are left, however; if anything, that reality is worse, and Emma is bound to be having to go through the same thing again. Hopefully, she’ll get a different result next time. No one should have to work in an environment like that.
**”Doublespeak” is part of the “Shorts Program 4” short film block, which is available On-Demand starting on January 28.**
DOUBLESPEAK from Hazel McKibbin on Vimeo.
