Woman of the Hour ★★★

Cheryl Bradshaw (Anna Kendrick) is an aspiring actress. She lives in LA, commutes from audition to audition, and speaks with her agent hoping to land her breakout role. After a period of time without success, her agent gets her a role on The Dating Game, a game show where a woman asks eligible bachelors questions to determine who she would choose to go on a date with. The bachelors remain unseen by the woman until her choice is made. Sally Field was on The Dating Game, Cheryl’s agent reminds her, and Cheryl’s perspective going into the show is to have some light fun with it and see if any opportunities are to follow.

Unfortunately for Cheryl, one of her bachelors is none other than Rodney Alcala (Daniel Zovatto) who is known today as The Dating Game Killer. An actual serial killer. This almost impossible to believe story becomes the premise of Woman of the Hour, Anna Kendrick’s directorial debut.

The film builds up to Cheryl and Rodney’s encounter on The Dating Game, and Rodney’s identity is not kept hidden from us, his first killing shown minutes into the film. Zovatto portrays Rodney as kind with a warm personality. Rodney’s friendly demeanor draws in the women that he kills and he specifically approaches women who he sees as vulnerable and praises them with compliments. Posing as a photographer, he is seen as artsy – and perhaps not overtly masculine – and this along with the flattery leads women to lower their guard around him. Rodney has a conversation with Cheryl about the difference between being seen and being looked at, and perception, namely the perception of women, is the theme that is at the center of Woman of the Hour.

As a young woman in 1970s Hollywood, Cheryl is subject to objectification and the casting directors she meets are more concerned about her comfort with nudity and bikini photos than her ability to act. Arriving on set for The Dating Game, Cheryl’s appearance is put under the spotlight as she is requested backstage to change her outfit into one that accentuates her figure. While people appearing on television are expected to be photogenic and stylized accordingly, the format of The Dating Game is one that is unfavorable to women. Cheryl notices that the questions written for her to ask the bachelors do not pertain to anything she would be interested in knowing as a woman interested in dating. And, of course, not to mention the lack of a background check for Rodney Alcala. The argument that the game show is first and foremost supposed to be entertainment and not intended to be demonstrative of how women should be portrayed on television can only go so far when the show’s basic responsibility towards its cast is unmet.

During a commercial break, the hair & makeup team encourages Cheryl to change the questions after she expresses her skepticism. After all, what harm could be done? It is a one-time appearance on the show and Cheryl should have fun with it. Once the show resumes, Cheryl toys with the flirty personas the bachelors take on before asking them a remarkably simple yet insightful question: “What are girls for?”. The bachelors respond to the question poorly with the exception of Rodney Alcala, the serial killer. Cheryl is pleased with Rodney’s response and the two are flirtatious throughout the television episode.

Woman of the Hour layers on tension and fear for Cheryl through showing Rodney’s murders leading up to their encounter on The Dating Game. This experimentation in narrative structure makes Woman of the Hour a clever and expressive directorial debut for Anna Kendrick which, along with the popularity of true crime, should earn Woman of the Hour attention and adoration from Netflix audiences.