ON THE BASIS OF SEX

Director: Mimi Leder

120, PG-13

Screenwriter: Daniel Stiepleman

Cast: Felicity Jones, Armie Hammer, Justin Theroux, Jack Reynor, Cailee Spaeny, Sam Waterston, Kathy Bates

 

Celebrate Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s return to health – and to the Supreme Court – by watching an inspiring film about her early years as a law student and attorney. One of nine women (out of a class of 500), at Harvard law in 1956, Ginsberg faced the entrenched opinion that women who wanted to practice law, in the words of a professor were “just taking jobs away from men.”  As the young lawyer arguing her first case of sexual discrimination, Felicity Jones (The Theory of Everything), backed by a supportive husband (Armie Hammer), is never afraid to use her voice. Impressed by Jones’ performance, Ginsburg quipped, “the only thing the movie gets factually wrong is that it portrays me at a momentary loss for words.”

“A serious movie that earns its emotion…. Even before the finish, it’s goosebumps all around.” Mick LaSalle, San Francisco Chronicle.