Lilly is a drama-heavy biopic detailing the horrific treatment of Lilly Ledbetter, an Alabama mother and wife who spent twenty years working for Goodyear in hopes of financially supporting her family.
What started as an attempt to earn a management position at a time when women weren’t encouraged to work spiralled into years of harassment and demotions on the basis of gender discrimination.
When Lilly learns the company pays her less than her male counterparts, she enters into a legal battle for equal pay that will change the American workforce for the better.
Directed by Rachel Feldman, Lilly details that very battle, from the factory floor to the halls of the Senate in Washington. It cuts together fictionalized moments of Patricia Clarkson’s Lilly and real-life found footage of Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Obama, and Hilary Clinton as they help her pass the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act.
It’s based on a true story of one woman’s determination to chase accountability at all costs.
That deserves to be brought to the big screen as much as the next biopic. Lilly’s story is upsetting and frustrating, but it’s also horrifyingly current in our history. We assume because women have these rights today that they’ve had them for a while. However, this film reminds us that Lilly’s discrimination is all too recent, as are her efforts to pass a bill that would hold companies accountable for underpaying and demoting minorities.
The wrongful treatment women and other minorities faced in the workplace before the bill passed in 2009 is haunting to relive throughout this film’s duration. From Lilly finding the note in her locker with the salaries of her fellow managers to the dismissal of her case at the highest levels of justice, this project sinks its teeth into the abuse she and the other women around her endured at every turn.
There’s no doubt Ledbetter’s story is an important one to tell, and Clarkson does that legacy justice.
The talented actress is a force, holding her head high as her protagonist navigates a storm of physical and verbal abuse at every turn. She imbues this fictionalized version of Lilly with a ferocity and strength that anchors the mission of her suffering in something tangible. Clarkson is everything that works and excels in this project, as she lends her expertise to this important role.
That said, Lilly Ledbetter deserves a film worthy of her fight, and Lilly is not that film.
It is a collision of clashing media as the film unsuccessfully splices together documentary-style footage and dramatized scenes to create a mess of perspectives, tones, and visuals.
Many aspect of this film works against itself. The cinematography leans on a washed-out filter to darken the spirits of an already tough situation, and it presents as a cheap eyesore. Additionally, the bleak performances from the larger ensemble are hindered by a lack of character development and melodramatic dialogue that gives off Lifetime movie vibes rather than an up-and-coming Oscar contender.
In the case of Lilly’s family — the people she’s fighting to earn a paycheck for — they are often reduced to props for conflict. That leaves little motivation to connect with anyone beyond the leading lady and her supportive husband.
Additionally, the choice not to recreate prominent figures in her story with actors hinders the lengths the storytelling can take. As a result, Lilly’s story feels very small in scope, never straying too far into the depths of its political importance due to the lack of ensemble characters on hand.
Lilly’s story is memorable, but this particular vessel for her story struggles to leave a lasting impression.
It’s not enough to tell a trailblazing woman’s story. There have to be attempts made to give that story agency and credibility on the big screen. The movie should attempt to matter as much as Lily’s story did, and it fails to live up to that mission.
Ultimately, Lilly would have done so much better as a documentary, with the found footage of her story carrying the weight and authenticity these fictionalized scenes do not. Hopefully this isn’t the last we see of Ledbetter’s legacy in Hollywood.
However, this film does remind us all how much we miss Obama, and for that we are always grateful.
—
Lilly is currently available to stream on Netflix.
