The Associate

About The Associate

The Associate is a 1996 American comedy film. The film is about a woman named Laurel Ayres who is a bright financial analyst on Wall Street. However, after she is passed over for a promotion, she leaves to start her own company. Facing male dominance, she invents a powerful male businessman she refers to as Robert Cutty to give her company credibility. The film showcases the socio-economic challenges women face in corporate America.

Making / Production

"The Associate" was directed by Donald Petrie and produced by Frederic Golchan and Adam Leipzig. The screenplay was penned by Nick Thiel, based on the 1979 French film "L'Associé". Despite outlining a humorous narrative, the film is successful in implicating strong underlying societal themes of gender discrimination and male privilege in the corporate sector.

Actors

• Whoopi Goldberg as Laurel Ayres: Goldberg plays the protagonist who, after being denied a well-deserved promotion, takes her destiny into her own hands and creates a fictitious male colleague to establish her business.
• Dianne Wiest as Sally Dugan: Wiest plays Sally, Laurel's loyal and supportive friend who helps her keep her charade going.
• Eli Wallach as Donald Fallon: Wallach portrayed Donald Fallon, an elderly industry veteran, who unwittingly becomes involved in Laurel's scheme.
• Tim Daly as Frank Peterson: Peterson is the antagonist in the film, a fellow financial analyst who believes he is superior to Laurel because of his gender.

Trivia / Interesting Facts

• The film is based on a 1979 French comedy of the same name.
• Despite the funny premise, “The Associate" remains a sharp commentary on the gender bias prevalent even today.
• Singer and actress Queen Latifah has a cameo role in the film.

Quotes

• "Cutty is not a person. Cutty is an idea." - Laurel Ayres
• "I'm not gonna spend the rest of my life working my ass off and getting nowhere just because I followed rules that I had nothing to do with setting up." - Laurel Ayres

Music, Soundtrack

• "Mr Big Stuff" performed by Queen Latifah
• "Ain't Nobody's Business If I Do" performed by Dr. John
• "Ladies First" performed by Queen Latifah