Ask E. Jean

A mesmerizing character profile on finding one’s courage in the #MeToo era, centered on one of its most compelling media figures — celebrated magazine editor and longtime advice columnist E. Jean Carroll. Directed by Ivy Meeropol, **Ask E. Jean** dives directly into the deep-end of its subject, opening with shocking videotape footage from Carroll’s 2019 deposition for her defamation lawsuit against Donald J. Trump, who repeatedly called her a liar across interviews and social media after she revealed in New York magazine that he sexually assaulted her during a visit to Bergdorf Goodman department store in Midtown Manhattan in the mid-1990s. Carroll’s reluctance to come forward feels sadly ironic for a celebrated advice columnist who built a reputation on dispensing candid wisdom faster than a gunslinger at the O.K. Corral. Perhaps the hardest advice to follow is often the counsel we give ourselves. Yet what makes **ASK E. JEAN** so invigorating is that Meeropol never frames her subject as a supine victim. Instead, the documentary becomes a fascinating portrait of a fearless, self-made woman whose moxie, candor, and fierce independence carried her from humble beginnings in Montana to becoming one of New York’s most recognizable media personalities. There is no Hallmark Movie denouement here — no sentimental retreat from the big city to rekindle a small-town love and simpler living. Rather, Carroll stayed, fought, and shaped her own destiny on her own terms with grit, boldness, verve, and endless chutzpah. Whether recounting her adventures through journalism, her friendships with Lisa Birnbach, Carol Martin, even Hunter S. Thompson, or embracing a kind of gonzo spirit toward life itself, Carroll emerges as endlessly charismatic: funny, adventurous, wounded, and unbreakably resilient all at once. Meeropol wisely balances Carroll’s buoyant personality against the horrifying details of her assault and the years-long public campaign to discredit her. The result is not merely a courtroom documentary, but a stirring examination of dignity, survival, and the emotional toll of telling the truth in public and reclaiming one's name and reputation. Carroll’s eventual courtroom victories against Trump (who was found liable for both the sexual assault and defamation -- and subsequently ordered to pay nearly $90 million in damages) feel less like triumphant spectacle and more like the hard-earned vindication of a woman unwilling to surrender her voice. The archival deposition footage from Carroll's 2019 and 2022 defamation cases offer a harrowing glimpse into the murky legal underworld of what women face to find justice. At a moment when cynicism often overwhelms public discourse, **ASK E. JEAN** feels refreshingly human — an inspiring portrait of courage that refuses to reduce its subject to tragedy alone. Carroll remains what she has always been: witty, fearless, fiercely intelligent, and gloriously unwilling to disappear quietly without a fight.