Film of the Week: On the Basis of Sex

Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsberg is an icon in the US, so this biopic assumes a lot of good will. Does it work if you’re just not that fussed about senior figures in the legislature of a far-off land? The good news is it does, with this look at a key sex discrimination case early in her career playing like a splice of a legal drama and a sports movie and, like all good sports movies, our heroine is very much the underdog. It’s hard not to root for her, given the often breathtaking sexism she faces — Brum-born Felicity Jones does good work in presenting the dignity she maintained in the face of it – and how being a dignified resister of prejudice isn’t much fun. It may not be subtle, but the message is rammed home, and a genuinely heroic figure gets her due. Times & trailers

PICTURE:  Focus Features