Taglines: Her story made pistory.
In the year 1956, Ruth Bader Ginsburg (Felicity Jones) is one of six women in her class at Harvard Law School. Her husband Martin (Armie Hammer) helps her get ready for a dinner at the Dean’s house welcoming the women to the class. When she arrives, Dean Griswold (Sam Waterston) callously makes each of the women stand up and explain why they’re in law school. Ruth remains unfazed – she continues excelling in classes, and when men like Professor Brown (Stephen Root) won’t call on her, she still manages to make her points.
While playing charades at a social gathering with friends, Martin doubles over in pain. At the hospital, the doctor explains that he has testicular cancer and that the chances of survival are at six percent. Ruth assures Martin that he’s going to live. She begins attending Martin’s law school classes in addition to her own, typing both of their essays, and taking care of sick Martin and their young daughter Jane.
Martin recovers fully from the cancer. He gets a job in New York, and Ruth meets with Dean Griswold to see if she can continue to earn her Harvard degree long-distance. Though he has made exceptions for men in the past, he coolly refuses, saying she has no special circumstance, and Ruth transfers to Columbia.
Despite having graduated at the top of her class and being editor of the law review, no New York firms will hire her because she’s a woman. She is frustrated and unable to use her law degree she worked so hard for. She is offered a Professorship, to teach law. Martin insists she decline, saying she will get a job and she shouldn’t settle – she wanted to practice law. But Ruth decides for her family she will take the job.
In 1970, Ruth is now a respected and successful professor. A lot of her students are young women who are involved in women’s lib movement. She teaches her students about a case Dorothy Kenyon argued, where a jury of all men convicted a woman. Kenyon argued it was unconstitutional, that the woman should have a jury of peers – meaning women as well – and that it was gender discrimination. The court didn’t believe gender discrimination was a real thing, and she lost.
When she gets home, her now teenage daughter Jane (Cailee Spaeny) tells her mom she got an A on her ‘To Kill a Mockingbird’ essay, but Ruth admonishes her that Atticus Finch is not a good lawyer, since he helped cover up a murder at the end of the story. Frustrated at her mother being a stickler, Jane lashes out and runs to her room. Martin comforts Jane, explaining that Ruth is the way she is because her mother died when she was young and pushed Ruth to always be her best.
Martin, a tax attorney, finds a tax case and brings it to Ruth. She says she’s not interested, but he urges her to take a closer look: Charles Moritz filed for a caregiver tax deduction because he was caring for his ailing mother, but he was denied and prosecuted over it because that deduction is only available to women. Ruth realizes this is a case of gender discrimination where the victim is a man.
She knows it could be massively important to helping repeal gender discrimination everywhere. She goes to meet old friend Mel Wulf (Justin Theroux), now the legal director of the ACLU (American Civil Liberties Union) and urges him to help her take on the Moritz case. He sympathizes but thinks it’s unwinnable and is busy with many racial discrimination cases.
Ruth is resolved to take it, however, and despite the fact that she’s never practiced law, as a law professor she can legally take the case. Martin gets permission from his job to take a side project, and Ruth flies to Denver to meet with Moritz (Chris Mulkey). He is just trying to take care of his mother and doesn’t think it’s fair that the government is calling him a crook. Ruth agrees and promises to do everything she can.
On the Basis of Sex is a 2018 American biographical legal drama film based on the life and early cases of Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg. Directed by Mimi Leder and written by Daniel Stiepleman, it stars Felicity Jones as Ginsburg, with Armie Hammer, Justin Theroux, Jack Reynor, Cailee Spaeny, Sam Waterston, and Kathy Bates in supporting roles.
The film had its world premiere at the AFI Fest on November 8, 2018, and was released in the United States on December 25, 2018, by Focus Features. The film received generally favorable reviews from critics, who acknowledged it as “well-intentioned but flawed”, and praised Jones’ performance.
The film made a “solid” $442,000 from 33 theaters on its first day of release. It went on to gross $690,000 in its first weekend, a total of $1.5 million over its first six days. In its first weekend of wide release January 11–13, the film made $6.2 million from 1,923 theaters, finishing sixth at the box office. In its second weekend of wide release the film fell 35% to $4 million, finishing 10th.
On the Basis of Sex (2018)
Directed by: Mimi Leder
Starring: Felicity Jones, Armie Hammer, Justin Theroux, Kathy Bates, Sam Waterston, Jack Reynor, Stephen Root, Chris Mulkey, Arlen Aguayo-Stewart, Wendy Crewson, John Ralston
Screenplay by: Daniel Stiepleman
Production Design by: Nelson Coates
Cinematography by: Michael Grady
Film Editing by: Michelle Tesoro
Costume Design by: Isis Mussenden
Set Decoration by: Emmanuelle Boies, Sylvain Mendez, Sonia Venne
Art Direction by: Raymond Dupuis, Camille Parent, Paola Ridolfi
Music by: Mychael Danna
Distributed by: Focus Features
Release Date: December 25, 2018
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