Underlying the the entire plot of Equity, the new film that explores the challenges of women on Wall Street, is the question: Should women wield their sexuality to get ahead at work?
Spoiler alert: The film concludes: YES.
Also: No. But really: Yes.
"That is one thing we explore that hasn't been done before: how women use sexuality in work, and when do you cross that line," said Sarah Megan Thomas, costar and coproducer, told me in an interview. Equity, whose core female creators include writer Amy Fox and director Meera Menon, is out in theaters in New York and Los Angeles this weekend.
Equity centers on investment banker Naomi Bishop, played by Anna Gunn of "Breaking Bad" fame, who has foregone marriage and children for a successful Wall Street career — yet faces a final glass ceiling she cannot shatter.
The plot follows Naomi as she heads a major Silicon Valley tech IPO, whose founder is a cocky 20-something Mark Zuckerberg-esque character with whose personality she tangles. Naomi is that woman: In her 50s, having foregone any notion of having it all, lives alone with her beta fish (get it? Alpha woman, beta fish?) in her stark Manhattan apartment, apparently having sacrificed pretty much everything for her career. She is attractive, fit (boxing is her workout of choice), but feminine charm is not part of Naomi's persona. When challenging her male (natch) boss about why she is repeatedly passed over for the most senior promotions, Naomi is told that she can "rub people the wrong way," alluding to the "sharp elbows" double-standard women report hold them back: When being as tough as any guy in the office, they are punished for not being nice enough.
In her off time, Naomi sees her sexy and seemingly adoring boyfriend (played by the smoking James Purefoy), a colleague with whom she is careful not to share SEC-violating information. Naomi, it is clear, is a good feminist: She does not break the law, she does not flirt at work or worry about being "nice" to get ahead. Detaching herself from her sexuality, the viewer is told, is what has made Naomi successful. But ultimately, it is this lover who bates Naomi for information about the IPO, which he uses to illegally sabotage the deal to his own financial gain. Here, Equity tells women: Your sexuality is your weakness.
But Naomi's protegee and vice president Erin Manning, played by the film's coproducer Sarah Megan Thomas, does not tangle with the executive, and she does flirt. Pretty Erin, a generation younger than Naomi, who we discover is pregnant with her very nice husband's baby. Erin does not suffer from sharp elbows syndrome, and in fact, is quite adept at maneuvering the IPO founder's explicit advances into a career-advancing agreement to sign an otherwise elusive nondisclosure agreement.
Meanwhile, Samantha, played by Equity's coproducer Alysia Reiner, of "Orange is the New Black," takes the sex and work equation to another level. Samantha, a former classmate of Naomi, is now a U.S. attorney prosecutor, living with her wife and two kids in a cozy, messy Brooklyn brownstone, enjoying her happy family life and on-the-right-side-of-the-law-and-Wall-Street career. Samantha unapologetically and expertly wields her sexuality to cajole career destroying information out of the Wall Street bros who she is out to prosecute.
The film sets out to remove shame from female ambition, with the opening quote being repeated throughout:
"I like money," Naomi tells a women's professional group. "I'm so glad it's finally acceptable for women to talk about ambition."
In the end, Naomi is escorted from her office after being dismissed, Erin settles into her new corner suite, and sultry Samantha, with a generous dollop of shame, accepts a high-paying Wall Street job. For women, viewers are told, love of money alone is not enough to get ahead.
Hear Sarah Megan Thomas's interview with Emma Johnson on her podcast Like a Mother: For Moms Who Think here.
