On the Basis of Sex (2019) * * *

Directed by:  Mimi Leder

Starring:  Felicity Jones, Armie Hammer, Sam Waterston, Justin Theroux, Kathy Bates, Chris Mulkey, Cailee Spaeny

It was a tiny tax law case which propelled Ruth Bader Ginsburg from Rutgers University law professor to powerful litigant for women's rights to a seat on the United States Supreme Court.   On the Basis of Sex focuses on the case in which an unmarried man who takes care of his mother is denied a $296.00 tax write-off because the framers of the tax law didn't anticipate a caretaker could possibly be a male.  It is not a stretch to understand that discrimination on the basis of gender wasn't cracked until the early 1970's, and there are still battles today to be won for equal pay and workplace sexual harassment.    You can thank Ruth Bader Ginsburg, among others, for shoving the door wide open.

Ginsburg (Jones) was one of the first female law students accepted at Harvard.   This is met with much muted pleasure by Dean Erwin Griswold (Waterston), who at a welcoming function asks each female student to stand and explain why she wants to practice law and thus take away a spot from a male student.    Ruth capably puts Griswold in his place and earns a lifelong enemy.   Ruth is married to second-year Harvard student Martin Ginsburg (Hammer) and has a young child.   Marty is soon stricken with testicular cancer, so Ruth takes his classes as well as her own and essentially tutors Marty into a law degree while earning her own.    Due to professional reasons, Ruth wants to finish her law classes at Columbia and still earn a Harvard degree, which Griswold attempts to reject, leading to a funny payoff line later in the film.

Ruth, despite graduating at the top of her class, can't find a job at any New York law firms, thanks to the male-dominated culture which believes the typical stereotypes of female workers (i.e. too emotional, should be home with the family, etc.)   In her frustration, she begins a professorship at Rutgers, which goes on for eleven years until Marty presents her with the aforementioned obscure tax case pending before the federal courts.    If the federal court can agree the law discriminates against a man, then the discrimination against women can also be wiped off the books.    It isn't easy for Ruth, but nothing ever was.

History shows who won out, and Ruth Bader Ginsburg was a big reason why.   Felicity Jones doesn't just give us a feisty Ruth, but one whose verbal arguments need polishing and fights constantly with her teenage daughter (Spaeny), who joins the protest movement against, well, anything.   Ruth isn't a secular saint, but just someone determined to fight to right a centuries-old wrong.   Hammer's Marty is the near saintly one, fully supporting Ruth in her endeavors while knowing full well of the case's pitfalls.    Hammer, while being very tall and classically handsome, isn't just a pretty face.   He isn't afraid to take on roles with gravitas and challenges.

On the Basis of Sex is a thoughtful legal drama in which Ruth must tread in dangerous legal waters.   As her boss at the ACLU Mel Wulf (Theroux) warns, she could set the women's movement back ten years if she loses.    But, yes we know she will prevail, and she does.   Except for Mel, Marty, and Charlie Moritz (Mulkey), the plaintiff in the tax case, the men in the film are seen as Neanderthal caricatures defending sexism openly and wantonly.   I'm not sure if the men in the villains needed to be presented in such a light, but On the Basis of Sex is not about historical accuracy, but paints in broad strokes, entertains, and occasionally even challenges our own perceptions.    The attitudes towards gender have changed for the better, but it is still an ongoing fight.