Film Review: “The Glorias” (2020)

Julie Taymor’s biopic of Gloria Steinem is a beautiful portrait of a feminist pioneer.

Like many other people, I quite liked the FX series Mrs. America, which depicts the fight over the passage of the Equal Rights Amendment during the 1970s. And, like quite a few others, I thought that the show was dominated by Cate Blanchett’s Phyllis Schlafly. In fact, I was rather dismayed by the way in which it sidelined Gloria Steinem, for though Rose Byrne is a very talented actress, she was quite simply outgunned by the likes of Blanchett and, for that matter, Margo Martindale (who played Bella Abzug, another staunch feminist). If you knew nothing about the history of the feminist movement, you’d come away from Mrs. America with the impression that Steinem was, at best, quite feckless and, at worst, downright incompetent.

Thankfully, we now have Julie Taymor’s The Glorias, the sort of biopic that the brilliant Steinem deserves. The film stars four different actresses, each of whom represents Steinem at different stages of her life and career: Ryan Kiera Armstrong portrays her as a child, Lulu Wilson as a teen, Alicia Vikander as a young woman, and the divine Julianne Moore as a woman in middle-age. The film follows a fairly straightforward linear narrative, showing Steinem’s childhood, her sojourn in India, her…