On the Basis of Sex
Directed by Mimi Leder
When Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s nephew Daniel Stiepleman wrote the screenplay for On the Basis of Sex, he couldn’t have known that the Supreme Court would become the subject of so much public scrutiny in 2018. In light of all that, this biopic about the iconic Supreme Court justice packs an extra emotional punch — even if its uplifting tone doesn’t quite fit our current political moment. The story picks up in the 1950s, with Ginsburg (Felicity Jones) entering Harvard Law School just a few years after women were first permitted to attend. There, she contends with micro-aggressions from dismissive profs and her sexist dean — plus, she’s raising a baby while her husband Martin (Armie Hammer) battles testicular cancer. Despite acing her studies, she can’t find a law firm willing to hire a woman, which is how she ends up becoming a professor at Rutgers, while Martin becomes a successful tax lawyer. Finally, in the early ’70s, she finds the case that brings her into the courtroom: a tax exemption case in which a man is being discriminated against because of his gender. Taking the case alongside her husband, Ginsburg tackles a system of oppression and seeks to prove that any gender-based discrimination is unconstitutional.
Director Mimi Leder draws the audience in by lobbing some moral softballs in its first half: we’re clearly expected to tsk every time an old guy says something backwards and sexist, and whoop whenever Ginsburg puts him in his place. Throw in a cheesy score of collegiate strings, and the film occasionally feels like it’s patting itself on the back for being on the right side of history. Once Ginsburg leaves the classroom and enters the courtroom, the film finally begins to find some necessary anger. After all, it’s not enough to simply snicker at close-minded comments from privileged dudes, since those same comments are supported by hundreds of years of legal precedent. It’s infuriating to watch Ginsburg’s opponents bluster about “socalled gender discrimination” (particularly given how this brand of idiocy is still very present in modern political discourse). It’s in this emotional whirlwind that Jones best channels Ginsburg’s tenaciousness, frustration and moments of self-doubt — even though the British-born actor sometimes struggles to hang onto her Brooklyn accent. She has a loving but confrontational rapport with her strong-willed teenage daughter Jane (Cailee Spaeny), whose passion for social justice inspires Ginsburg to pursue her cause.
It’s an inspiring account of a feminist hero, and its messages of equality and social justice are more relevant than ever. The only problem is, On the Basis of Sex wraps up in a too-tidy bow, with a triumphant finale that feels like a sports movie. By not acknowledging our current regressive politics, it’s a difficult to buy into the warm’n’fuzzy optimism. (Focus Features)