Une femme d'exception

From the impressive script to the tone this is a movie worth seeing.

A lot of movies I see these days fall short of the message they are trying to get across but this one definitely did not.

Ruth and her family done something incredible not just for America but the world. While this won't win any awards it's a history lesson in law which manages to make it exciting with some great performances.

My wife and I, both professionals about 15 years behind the real RBG, found this movie both fascinating and painful--almost as painful as the negative reviews that object to the Subject on the basis not of sex, but of politics. Too bad the knuckle-draggers can't get past their own biases to enjoy this very good and intellectually engaging movie. And yes, we did find it suspenceful. My wife, too got directed to the typing pool after four years of college and three of grad school, and I hope I was half as supportive as Marty. We thoroughly enjoyed this reminder that even today the arc of history doesn't bend itself, and that the only way to achieve your goals, especially (gasp) equality, is to keep pushing. And we thought the acting was first-rate, and loved the physical mismatch of the tiny Jones and towering Hammer.

Felicity Jones stars as Ruth Bader Ginsburg in this movie about how she came to argue a case in tax law and upturn two hundred years of Federal law and American culture about sexual stereotypes. Another reviewer says the movie is not political. I disagree. It is all political, from the opening scenes at Harvard Law, when the nine women in class are asked to justify their presence in place of nine similarly situated men, through the end, when she asks for justice. Times, she argues, have changed, and the law must change to reflect that. That change in attitudes may seem revolutionary, natural and proper in our society -- although there are still those who would deny it -- but the changes and arguments that led to those changes were purely political.

Director Mimi Leder directs this as a personal odyssey, and offers us characters living in the moment, from Armie Hammer cooking for his family to Justin Theroux and the ACLU lawyer who fights Mrs. Ginsburg over strategy and tactics. Central, of course, is Miss Jones as Mrs. Ginsburg. She is excellent, speaking in a muted Brooklyn accent that reminds me of my mother -- and which Mrs. Ginsburg did not use in her public appearances. It's hard to make history gripping, since we know how it came out. The movie succeeds because it offers us the inner turmoil of the people involved.

The education and early career of U.S. Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, the first woman to sit on the highest court in America, is captured in this film. It stars Felicity Jones as the young woman who attended Harvard Law School with her husband (Armie Hammer) and went on to become one of the preeminent legal minds of her era.

The film centers on how Ginsburg was initially instrumental and ultimately essential in an appellate case that helped pave the way for gender discrimination in federal law being eradicated. Along with her husband, she worked on the appeal with the ACLU, heralded by Mel Wulf (Justin Theroux), a liberal with complicated principles. Kathy Bates makes a nice turn as a famous, hardened civil rights litigator who failed in some earlier cases. Sam Waterston is a welcome presence as the outwardly progressive but inwardly parochial Erwin Griswold, Dean of Harvard Law during Ginsburg's years as a student.

Jones shines in the role of the young Ginsburg, a dedicated, steadfast attorney who was undaunted by the entrenched views on gender in academia, the workplace and ultimately in the courts. She spends most of the film grappling with these challenges but all the while never letting go of her core principles and dedication to the law.

Although this film occasionally lurches into Oscar bait territory, it makes for a good portrayal of a woman who became a true pioneer in the history of gender equality and a good starting point to get to know Justice Ginsburg from where she started. Recommended.

This movie depicts future Supreme Court justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg as first a law student with her husband also entering the profession during the '50s. Then it segues to the early '70s as she finally tries a case. This was quite a compelling drama of her life and career during those times I just mentioned. Especially when it explores some of their family life. My mom enjoyed this as well. So on that point, we heartily recommend On the Basis of Sex.