Over the years, we’ve gotten plenty of films about the
cutthroat world of high finance, but from “Wall Street” to “The Big Short,”
they’re all typically male-centric affairs. The fact that “Equity” is the
practically unheard of financial thriller told from the female perspective
immediately distinguishes itself from the pack. Filled with great performances —
especially from “Breaking Bad” star Anna Gunn — the film is a sharp look at
women in the workplace, even when its story doesn’t quite live up to the
complicated, flawed characters that fill it.
Gunn plays big shot investment banker Naomi Bishop.
Specializing in shepherding tech industry startups through their initial public
offering, she’s been tasked with overseeing the IPO launch of a hot new social
media company that promises the kind of privacy Facebook can’t. Passed over for
promotion and coming off a botched public offering for which she was made the
scapegoat by her condescending boss, there’s extra pressure for Naomi to prove
herself this time around. Nevermind that she’s
already spent years proving herself in her rise to the top.
Everyone in Naomi’s life has their own agenda, from her
ambitious VP, Erin (Sarah Megan Thomas), to her boyfriend, Michael (James Purefoy), and even Samantha (Alysia Reiner), an old college
friend who’s now a prosecutor with the US Attorney’s office specializing in
white collar crime, and who shows up to reconnect with Naomi right when she’s
at her most vulnerable.
Based on the genre we’re dealing with, we expect Naomi to
engage in some shady practices. But she conducts herself professionally — ambitious
and sometimes ruthless, but never criminally. Similarly, director Meera Menon and screenwriter Amy Fox consistently upend our
expectations: we assume Erin will prove herself to be that expected
backstabbing protege, while Samantha plays the
honorable dispenser of justice. But each character is allowed to be more
complicated than that.
The plot itself is a little by-the-numbers, concerning the
expected manipulations and betrayal, and the film is always more interesting
when it’s focused on the details of how these three women navigate what is
largely still a man’s world. When Naomi faces criticisms that she’s not
“likeable” enough, the film trusts us to understand that that particular
condemnation isn’t something any of her male colleagues ever have to worry
about. Or when Erin, who early on learns that she’s pregnant, sneaks off to the
bathroom to replace her martini with water in order to mingle with the boys when
they go out for post-work drinks.
“Equity” is directed, written, produced, and financed by
women. That it’s filled with women behind and in front of the camera is
something that shouldn’t be as novel as it is, but unfortunately, that’s not
the world we (or the characters in this film) live in. But slowly and surely,
that’s bound to change.
This article appears in Aug 24-30, 2016.
