At a time when laws change daily to restrict women’s bodily autonomy, protect men from accountability and reinstate antiquated values that benefit a few at the expense of the many, sexual politics can feel more regressive than ever. But as uneven a playing field as women may face against men in their lives, relationships and careers, “Ladies First” is a movie that seems like it’s made less for this moment than one a few generations ago.
Starring Sacha Baron Cohen and Rosmund Pike, this Netflix remake of Éléonore Pourriat’s 2018 romcom “I Am Not an Easy Man” (the first French-language film ever commissioned by the streamer) follows a male chauvinist who awakens in a world where power dynamics between men and women are reversed. Yet even working from a script cowritten by Natalie Krinsky (“The Broken Hearts Gallery”) and Katie Silberman (“Booksmart”) and directed by Thea Sharrock (“Me Before You,” “Wicked Little Letters”), the film’s largely female creative team offers few insights about gender that weren’t previously explored in “Men Are From Mars, Women Are From Venus,” much less a dozen other switcheroo romantic comedies like “What Women Want.”
Cohen plays Damien Sachs, a lothario helpfully described upfront by the film’s narrator, Pigeon Man (Richard E. Grant), as “an asshole.” Though he’s poised to become CEO at the Atlas advertising agency where his mentor Fred (Charles Dance) is set to retire, the shareholders believe the company’s management is too top-heavy with men, and insist that a woman be considered for the role. Damien enlists his long-suffering assistant Ruby (Weruche Opia) to find a female employee — any employee — to join his ranks and alleviate claims of sexism, but when she selects the eminently qualified Alex (Pike), he makes it abundantly clear that she’s there to facilitate progressive optics, not actually participate in running Atlas.
