You might have noticed the meme "Notorious RBG" bandied about recently; a humorous meld of Ruth Bader Ginsburg—a demure Jewish lawyer—and American rap artist Notorious BIG who is anything but.
As this film neatly illustrates, Ginsburg's dogged drive and determination for shaking up the establishment show that there is more truth to the meme's apparent oxymoron than meets the eye. She's diminutive in stature but a giant in the fight for gender equality.
On the Basis of Sex begins in the 60s with Ruth as a bright-eyed Harvard law school entrant with a gift for the books and a firm belief in the power of change. It's a volatile combination and her struggle with sexism within the male-dominated law fraternity was something her quiet resolve could not ignore. So she set about illuminating the lecturers, judges and pundits who didn't think sex-discrimination existed… rather successfully.
Spanning her life through to the 70s, the film settles down into a procedural court-room drama examining the Wiesenfeld case—a foundational case that Ginsburg used to bring about constitutional change to women's rights.
Felicity Jones (The Theory of Everything) walks a fine line between an authentic portrayal of the real Ginsburg—whose reserved and mild nature was never going to set the silver screen alight—and breathing new life into her persona for the purposes of engaging cinema. Thankfully, she finds common ground and delivers a performance that leans well enough on emotional drama while never losing sight of Ginsburg's stoney temperament.
