Ask E Jean
Directed by Ivy Meeropol
⭑⭑⭑⭑☆

“HE called me a liar and I couldn’t let it stand,” states E Jean Carroll in her deposition when she is asked why she decided to sue President Donald Trump for sexual assault and defamation 23 years after she was attacked.

Writer-director Ivy Meeropol’s powerful documentary pulls no punches, much like the no-nonsense, plain-speaking yet wonderfully acerbic and funny E Jean Carroll herself, whose work and life she chronicles, along with taking Trump to court twice and winning both times. 

Carroll, a prolifically published writer and journalist and former advice columnist, speaks frankly about her situation and the repercussions on her career and life. 

In 2019, inspired by the Me Too movement and the Harvey Weinstein case, she decided to reveal what had happened to her in 1996 in a dressing room at the Bergdorf Goodman department store. 

Trump immediately denied the allegations and stated publicly that he had never met her and she wasn’t his type. You see him repeat that in his deposition for the trial. 

Yet when he is shown a black-and-white photograph from 1987 in which he appears with Carroll and her then husband John Johnson, he asks if Carroll is Marla (Maples), his ex-wife. 

In 2019 Elle magazine suddenly ended her 27-year-long advice column, Ask E Jean. As she states: “A woman’s magazine fires a woman for standing up to a powerful man? Not a good look!” 

The depositions, which elevate this documentary, show exactly why women are reluctant to report assault or rape. Carroll, in her late seventies, is grilled by Trump’s female lawyer and asked harrowing and humiliating questions. She answers them all with resilience and steely determination. It is very difficult to watch, particularly when she has to describe what happened to her. 

In the 1990s Carroll was given her own daily advice show on television by Roger Ailes who, years later, also faced sexual harassment allegations. 

She told her viewers: “The Asking Jean philosophy is to stop cowering. Do not give the other person the power to make you the victim. And always press charges.” 

Now in her eighties, Carroll is an inspiration to all women for having stood up to and beaten Trump twice in court, regaining her reputation. She was awarded $5.6 million in the first lawsuit and then $83.3 million in the second trial in 2024. She’s only just received the first amount from Trump, who is fighting the second payout

This is a must-see. 

In select cinemas July 24.