It was not easy to be an American woman in the 1950s and 60s, a period of conformity with traditional gender roles. It was also a time of change; a number of American women were engaged in a social movement that demanded equal rights.
Directed by Mimi Leder from a script by Daniel Stiepleman, On The Basis Of Sex is a biographical film that tells the early career of US Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, the first woman to sit on the highest court in America, at the humble start of inventing herself, highlighting the ups and downs of the trailblazer's formative period.
The film stars Felicity Jones as the young Ruth who attended Harvard Law School and went on to become one of the pre-eminent legal minds of her era. It begins in 1956 at Harvard Law School's orientation, when Ruth, a young wife and mother, was one of nine women in her class of nearly 500. From the very first days at school, Ruth has to navigate sexist professors and classmates.
She was invited to a welcoming dinner, where Dean Erwin Griswold (Sam Waterston) asks each of the nine female students to explain why she was taking a space that could have gone to a man. Ruth, whose husband, law student Marty Ginsburg (Armie Hammer), is in the second-year class, says that studying law will help her "be a more patient and understanding wife".
Ruth is soon faced with a family tragedy when her husband is diagnosed with testicular cancer. She has to take classes both for herself and for her husband and raise a family all while trying to challenge and change a male-dominated system.
In the 1970s, Ruth struggles to find a job as a practising lawyer, and ends up settling for teaching at a university in New Jersey. Soon she discovers a tax law that discriminates against men who are caregivers and decides to contest it as a means to chip away at the country's mountain of sexist laws.
The cast of On The Basis Of Sex is brilliant. Jones really shines in her role as the young, aspiring Ruth, a dedicated, steadfast attorney who never feared the entrenched views on gender in academia, the workplace and ultimately the courts.
Armie Hammer is also wonderful, portraying a loving husband and believable as ever. They have a fantastic chemistry in the film. On The Basis Of Sex is also filled with several fine supporting characters, including the great Kathy Bates, Justin Theroux, Sam Waterson and Stephen Root.
Here we learn about how backwards American society was when it came to women's rights in the 50s. We also learn that the truth is bitter in reality, and it never hurts to see what we've come from, how far we've come and how much more we need to accomplish. On The Basis Of Sex is also a fine companion to the Ruth Bader Ginsburg documentary RBG (2018).
