PalCinema Review: Lilly

Patricia Clarkson stars as equal pay fighter Lilly Ledbetter

May 8, 2025

FILM: LILLY

DIRECTED BY: RACHEL FELDMAN

STARRING: PATRICIA CLARKSON, JOSH MCDERMITT, THOMAS SADOSKI

RATING: 3 ½ out of 4 stars

By Dan Pal

Some biopics have the power to keep the names of significant people alive. I had little more than a fleeting memory of Lilly Ledbetter who spoke at the Democratic National Convention in 2008. The new film Lilly, starring Patricia Clarkson as the titular figure, takes us back to her early days working for Goodyear in Alabama and right through her Supreme Court battle to win equal pay for men and women.

We see Ledbetter working in a plant with mostly men who clearly are not happy she is there as they throw tires at her and give her absolutely no sense of an equal footing on the job. While the men may come off as a bit one-dimensional, the focus is on Ledbetter’s experience over the course of almost two decades. The turning point is when she sees the salaries of other supervisors in her same position and finds that they all make more money than her. This starts the fight and legal battle, which will cost her a job but lead her to Washington.

Footage is used from, in particular, interviews with late Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg as she describes the significance of what Ledbetter did for the American workforce. This and other archival footage allows viewers to see the attention this modest woman received on a national level as she fought for equal rights. At certain points Clarkson as Ledbetter is superimposed into various shots which might appear somewhat cheap but it works in expressing the lengths her battle went.

The film does jump ahead in time more than once sometimes leaving a few details half-expressed such as her period working in an office at Goodyear before getting demoted. Ledbetter’s family life is also given brief focus including the estrangement that occurs between she and her son. When he marks a return late in the film, their reunion feels more sentimental than narratively earned as a plot point. What is developed is her husband’s health problems. Although they don’t specifically connect to the larger story at hand, what they do suggest is Ledbetter’s strength in the face of a series of personal and professional setbacks.

Patricia Clarkson plays Ledbetter as a bit low-key rather than overly forceful. She comes across as an every day woman caught up in a situation she never wanted to have to fight. She is thus pretty relatable as a character. She speaks for all women in middle America that have been denied equal treatment.

While the film might not have the same kind of powerful punch as its related cousins such as Norma Rae and Erin Brockovich, it definitely is satisfying and generally well developed as a narrative even with its various leaps in time. The story is compelling and shines a light on an issue that this small town woman brought to the nation and helped pave the way for an Equal Pay bill which Barack Obama signed into law during his presidency. Ultimately, Ledbetter’s story is very inspiring and well worth a watch.

Lilly opens this week in limited theatrical release include the Gene Siskel Center in Chicago.

Were you familiar with Lilly Ledbetter? Does this sound like a film you’d want to check out?

For the archive of PalCinema reviews, click here.