Hostile Advances: The Kerry Ellison Story

HOSTILE ADVANCES is a simplistic TV movie from the 1990s that's content to plough the same furrow as many films which have come before it. It tells the true story of a woman who suffered sexual harassment from a work colleague. The problem is that nobody seems bothered enough to help her, so in the end she takes the guy to court. Can she put an end to this nuisance once and for all?

The narrative is kind of a cross between Crichton's DISCLOSURE and the excellent, also-based-on-a-true-story TV movie STALKING LAURA. However, it's nowhere near as interesting as those movies, as it suffers all of the usual problems associated with the TV Movie genre: the acting is understated and uninteresting, the dialogue is overly talky and doesn't really connect with the audience, and there's little interest for the viewer. The courtroom finale is probably the best part, but really there isn't very much going on here at all.

This story based on the famous Kerry Ellison sexual harassment legal case against the IRS is important to watch particularly by anybody who questions the authenticity of sexual harassment accusations in this era of the "me-too" movement.

As is clear in Kerry Ellison's story, it is amazingly difficult for women living in our current culture of extreme misogyny, which contrary to the belief of some, has never been erased and in fact as I write this review is unfortunately making a strong comeback as a backlash in these strange and frightful times as men never wanted women to have any self-agency. Many refuse to believe women when they come forward to report harassment. They put them down with all sorts of questions such as "Why didn't she come forward sooner, why now? She must be making this up!" But as exemplified in Kerry Ellison's story, it can be extremely terrifying for women to come forward and they risk everything, their privacy, jobs, reputation, and even sanity. It takes some real courage not to mention money for lawyers and courts. The risks are staggering. This movie is a strong testament to how difficult this can be.

This movie is also historically remarkable and significant as it shows how one woman who wouldn't quit even though all the odds were against her and she suffered great setbacks in the process, soldiered forward and while she didn't get what she hoped and actually lost her job and didn't have a chance to win against her extremely demented stalker and harasser, she managed to change the laws to consider harassment of women from a woman's perspective instead of only through men's eyes. These days courts use this standard to consider such cases instead of the old "any reasonable person's point of view" which is a defective standard as only women can know what it feels like to have a man impose himself on them, while men can only imagine this but not feel it as they aren't women.

The main elements in the movie are all true to the actual events. Excellently played, very good acting, and very good writing, I thoroughly enjoyed watching and I highly recommend this movie. A true gem.

From the movie credits:

"Kerry Ellison ultimately settled her lawsuits against the IRS and Jack Gilcrest. As a result of those settlements her allegations were never tried in a court of law. Jack Gilcrest has denied Kerry's allegations."

"The "Reasonable Woman" standard initiated by Kerry Ellison is a benchmark in sexual harassment law enabling thousands of women's cases to be tried from a woman's perspective."

"The following story concerning a landmark decision in the field of sexual harassment is presented from Kerry Ellison's point of view and opinions on the events portrayed."

I'm on a roll...for the second night in succession I've seen a film worth talking about, again, on the Women's Television Network.

This time, it's the same old same old - yet another story of sexual harassment - this time, in the workplace. It's very well done, and I'm sure it's basically true from the viewpoint of the female victim, the original Kerry Ellison herself.

What's changed this time, is the eye of the beholder. In the past, in my male prime and feisty if I've watched movies about sexual harrassment at all, I wondered what all the fuss was about. What the women would call "harassment",looked to me like acceptable male flirting. Surely the best compliment I could pay a woman, was to have a great guy like me let her know how attractive she was to me, by means of commenting on her looks, her love life, and her obvious affinity with me?

This movie puts down such "flirting" as scary, driving the woman in question, into nightmares, out of her job, and, ultimately, to a lawsuit. It's a story that's been told many times lately, as more and more women emerge from their fear of being labelled hysterical, over-imaginative, and above all concern that the MAN would suffer e.g. loss of his wife/job/reputation if HER truth be told...that is, truth distinct from his, which is, of course, that it was all good clean sexual interplay between equals, namely "flirting"

But, this movie avers, it is not between equals, if one participant is bigger,stronger, more influential, and has a louder voice(all of which means that it is, still, a man's world, after all) -then it becomes sexual bullying.

This movie, though entertaining and interesting in itself, does not bring much that is new to the discussion...it's that I, myself, have changed, at 70 have become vulnerable, like any woman - every other male is so much bigger, stronger, influential, and has a louder voice than I, and I find it...intimidating. I am far more sympathetic to complaints of sexual harassment than once I was. Finding myself wondering how the lead male in the movie, deeming himself so romantic, could come off looking so dumb and boorish. But for the grace of God...oops! Been there, done that!