Her Legacy Shines Through
After one very good encapsulation of Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s career last April, we have another in the form of a drama retelling her first case arguing against sex-based discrimination. On the Basis of Sex, written by Ginsburg’s nephew, Daniel Stiepleman, and directed by veteran of film and TV Mimi Leder, is an imperfect, and too often prosaic, attempt to look at this crucial turning point in Ginsburg’s life and career. Felicity Jones plays the future justice with a quiet intelligence and fiery attitude that seems spot-on, and she’s surrounded by a talented supporting cast including Armie Hammer as Martin Ginsburg, Sam Waterston as Solicitor General Erwin Griswold, and Justin Theroux as a head honcho at the ACLU.
The story begins with Ruth and Martin attending Harvard Law together, at which time he develops cancer. She attends classes for both of them, and then we flash forward to the Ginsburgs’ move to New York when Martin gets a job. Once there and after she finishes her degree at Columbia, Ruth grows frustrated with the many law firms unwilling to hire a woman, so she takes a teaching position at Rutgers Law School, which is where she is years later when a gender discrimination case comes to her attention because the defendant is a man, and therefore represents a great opportunity to attack the issue from an entirely new point of view before male judges.
Everything I’ve just summarized is important to Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s journey to landing that hallmark case, but the film spends too much time in the past when its real story begins with that opportunity. Before that moment, the film is jumping ahead rapidly, providing many meaningful, and even heartfelt moments, but not enough relevance to the story being told in the rest of the run time. There is so much in Ginsburg’s background that’s worth digging into that her life should either be a miniseries, or be represented in one laser-focused film that encapsulates her spirit and ideals. On the Basis of Sex does a fair job of the latter, but it also tries to do some of the former. What is presented in the first 45 minutes of the film could be summarized in meaningful character interactions later on. Part of why getting an opportunity to take this case was so important to Ruth was because she had, up until that point, been kept from pursuing her dream work by a sexist system. Her frustration at that point in her life is palpable in part because we see her work so hard early on, only to get rejected, but by skipping ahead in time so quickly we miss what seem like important moments that are only revealed to be of lesser relevance to the story of this gender discrimination case after the fact.
Marty has cancer and a slim chance of survival? Sounds pretty important. A scene or two later, he’s in remission and Ruth is begging Erwin Griswold, then Dean of Harvard Law, to let her complete her coursework at Columbia. He denies her. Next scene? She’s a graduate of Columbia and already looking for work.
These moments are crucial to Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s larger life story and her drive to bring down gender barriers, but before the film arrives in 1970 and stays there, it feels like an open question as to where some of this was heading, and I say that as someone who knew where it was heading. Now, none of this sinks the film, just hinders it. The strong performances and, ultimately, the stirring final courtroom showdown deliver the emotional goods, and it’s all capped off with a final shot that perhaps no other biopic could achieve. It’s a celebration of the moment Ruth Bader Ginsburg fully set herself on the path that lead her to the bench of the Supreme Court; I just wish the film spent more time digging into that moment than building to it.