On the Basis of Sex, The Lady Eve and A Star is Born on blu-ray

★★★

Dir: Mimi Leder

Starring: Felicity Jones, Armie Hammer

12A 120m

Wife, mother, professor, lawyer, women’s rights activist - the many facets of US Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s life are expertly blended together by Felicity Jones to show that each is inseparable from the whole. This movie focuses on the formative years of her career, in particular her first landmark gender equality case. Taking into account that Ruth spent many years in teaching wilderness after graduating from top of her class from Columbia, Jones pares back the full-on feistiness to deliver a subtle arc of character development. This ranges from wide-eyed law student to frustrated professor to lawyer finding the true power of her voice. Armie Hammer as Martin Ginsburg is a likeable, charismatic, understanding husband. It’s good that the script writer (who also happens to be RBG’s nephew) resisted pressure to introduce marital strife that wasn’t there just to satisfy our disbelief that Martin Ginsberg was too good to be true. It’s a nice nod in itself to gender equality - we would never question the authenticity of a wife offering unwavering support. The rest of the supporting cast, mostly male, offer enough antagonism to make up for Martin’s shortfall. Sam Waterston, Stephen Root and Jack Reynor, all opposing counsel, give us plenty of moments to feel offended by their sexism. Cailee Spaeny delivers a nice performance as 15-year-old Jane Ginsburg, a true ‘woke’ young woman of the 70s, but her ever presence in scenes was a little too on the nose in terms of reminding us of Ruth’s motivation and that times indeed, they are a changin’. (Jess O Sullivan)