Chronicling the monumental life of 85-year-old Supreme Court
Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Julie Cohen and Betsy West’s stirring documentary
“RBG” was an unexpected winner at the box office this past summer. Along with
the Fred Rogers doc “Won’t You Be My Neighbor?” it was one of several
high-profile docs that drew big crowds in 2018, benefitting from audiences’
apparent hunger for inspiring stories of real-life heroes.
Now hot on
the heels of “RBG” comes “On the Basis of Sex,” a dramatized version of Ginsburg’s
life from director Mimi Leder. With the glossy sheen
of a prestige picture, the crowd-pleasing “On the Basis of Sex” focuses on the
early achievements in Ginsburg’s career. British actress Felicity Jones (“Rogue
One,” “The Theory of Everything”) stars as the young Ginsberg, beginning in
1956, the year the aspiring attorney arrived at Harvard Law School.
Almost
immediately, she faces discrimination in the male-dominated culture of the
school. At a dinner party hosted by the dean (Sam Waterston), she, along with
the eight other women who’ve entered into the program, is publicly asked by
their host to justify her decision to take an academic seat away from a
potential male student.
It’s tough
going, but nonetheless Ginsburg persists. Following the expected biopic beats
of our protagonist gamely overcoming adversity, watching Ruth make her way
through law school is definitely the least interesting part of the film. But as
we gradually move into the 1970s, it focuses on the dynamics of Ruth’s relationship
with her tax attorney husband, Marty (Armie Hammer).
Theirs is a marriage of true equals, and Marty remains tirelessly supportive at
every step. As “RBG” also emphasized, the couple are a team in every way.
Even
graduating at the top of her class, Ruth finds that no law firm is willing to
hire a woman, and she eventually accepts a job as a professor at Rutgers. If
she can’t affect change herself, she can at least give the next generation the
tools they need to get the job done.
From there,
the film shifts into a courtroom drama as Marty brings Ruth the case of Charles
Moritz (Christian Mulkey), a Denver man caring for
his elderly mother, but denied the proper tax credit because of his gender
(laws at the time stated that only women could be considered a primary
caregiver). It’s a case of sex-based discrimination against a man, and Ruth
sees its potential to establish a precedent that could be the first step in the
methodical dismantling of the entire sexist social order.
The film’s
screenplay, written with obvious affection by Ginsburg’s nephew Daniel Stiepleman, makes efforts to humanize Ginsburg, and Jones’s
performance reveals a woman whose polite exterior covered a steely
determination. She portrays Ginsburg as a brilliant woman who stuck to her principles,
but who could be shrewd when necessary. Some of the most moving moments involve
her sometimes contentious relationship with her teenage daughter (Cailee Spaeny), who’s
increasingly drawn to the more radical methods of the women’s lib movement and
is sometimes bewildered by her mother’s desire to change the system from
within.
Combined,
“RBG” and “On the Basis of Sex” make a more complete portrait of the woman who
would become “The Notorious RBG,” though neither film quite succeeds at getting
into Ruth Ginsburg as a person. I’d love a film that really digs into what
makes her tick, or tells us, for example, why it was law that specifically
became such a passion for her.
While not as
trailblazing or forward-thinking as Ginsburg herself, “On the Basis of Sex”
works thanks to an uplifting, earnest tone, Leder’s
sturdy direction, and grounded performances from Jones and Hammer. Even when
sticking to convention, the film ultimately succeeds as an inspirational
testament to a real-life hero and the continued significance of her work.
This article appears in Jan 9-15, 2019.
