It is hard to make a great biopic, and Lilly was a reminder of that. Sometimes, the performance by one or two strong leads can really ground the film, as was the case with 2023’s mixed-reviewed sports drama Nyad. Even if these movies otherwise fall into conventional, overwrought biopic storylines, a stellar performance can elevate the movie. Lilly similarly centers itself around one bigger-name actor — Patricia Clarkson. Clarkson is surrounded by a lesser-known supporting cast that includes Josh McDermitt, Thomas Sadoski, Deirdre Lovejoy, John Benjamin Hickey, and Joshua Mikel.
The Rachel Feldman-directed film chronicles the life of Lilly Ledbetter, a fair pay activist. Splicing together footage of Clarkson with real-life footage of former President Joe Biden and other known political figures, Lilly makes it clear from the get-go that this movie prides itself on its based-on-a-true-story origin. Ledbetter herself did not start in politics, but as a Goodyear tire factory worker who spent years trying to work her way up, only to face unfair pay barriers.
Lilly tells an undeniably important story, and it is coming out at an emotional time. After years of fighting through the legal system and becoming an example for her community, Ledbetter pᴀssed away last year at the age of 86. While the film attempts to be a tribute to Ledbetter and the legislation she later inspired, it meets some significant stumbling blocks along the way.
Even With A Compelling Lead, Lilly Doesn’t Do Justice To Its Important Story
The Supporting Cast Is Very Weak Compared To Clarkson
An Oscar nominee and three-time Emmy winner, Clarkson knows what she is doing onscreen. In a stronger movie, she could have been a great lead for Lilly. She is both poised and forceful, embodying the Alabama activist’s struggle through and through. While this was a compelling element of the film, Clarkson’s strong work was severely undermined by the lackluster ensemble.
For its duration, the movie cuts between its narrative and real-life interview footage of late Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, whose clips often speak directly to the themes.
Most noticeably, the film’s foray into the more broadly cinematic and perhaps less realistic portrayals of its antagonists acted to its detriment. I cannot deny that the real-life story includes ridiculously overt Sєxism, and the court cases make that clear. What I can say, however, is that the way most of the factory-working men border on being comic book villains to melodramatic proportions. It is fair for their Sєxism to be portrayed as extreme, but the ensemble cast’s caricatured villainy often took me out of the moment.
This is a shame, because this overdramatized approach over-Hollywoodizes what could have been a meaningful film. Clarkson herself is fairly grounded in the film. But even those around her, whether it be her onscreen husband or fellow workers, seem to only play the emotional extremes, undermining the dynamic range of the lead performance.
Lilly Lacks Any Subtlety In Its Storytelling
Its Dialogue Is Particularly Inarticulate
The performances are just a symptom of the bigger problem with Lilly: the film lacks any and all subtlety. In the first few minutes of the movie, I wondered if my brightness settings were off on my device. But I soon discovered that the undersaturated grayscale was, in fact, an intentional effect in the film. When the protagonist eventually secures legal representation, color literally (and abruptly) enters her life and, to represent this, the screen.
I found this filmmaking approach overly obvious, simplifying her life story. After all, Lilly had plenty of challenging, less “colorful” moments later on in her life, so why shift so abruptly that early in the movie? Unfortunately, it was not the only time that Feldman and her editors picked the bluntest approach possible. For its duration, the movie cuts between its narrative and real-life interview footage of late Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, whose clips often speak directly to the themes.
Unfortunately, Lilly’s non-RBG dialogue is still painfully obvious. In one particularly egregious line, Ledbetter says “it was hard working in that place. Hard being a woman.” While lines like this are certainly prevalent to the movie’s main ideas, they are too often theme statements that seem more like a vehicle to deliver the main message than authentic human dialogue. In the end, as much as Lilly might wish to be the Erin Brockovich for women in the factory industry, it misses the mark.
