What "Woman of the Hour" is going for isn’t some ultimate period-piece authenticity. It’s trying to deconstruct television, along with the male aggression that can descend into violence, and to show you how they work together.

Anna McKibbin of the AV Club gives Woman of the Hour a B, calling the director’s debut effort “ambitious,” as she’s not satisfied to simply gesture toward the magnitude of misogyny. In McKibbin’s words: