Review: Little Women (dir. Greta Gerwig)

The importance of female narrative in contemporary times remains uncontested, even though it might be another one in a series of multiple adaptations. Amidst the availability of the attempted ones, Little Women by Greta Gerwig is distinct for its evergreen, ageless nature.

The brilliance not only lies in the careful casting of the film but the pivotal points which Gerwig highlights through her famous feministic directorial style.

img courtesy: imdb

Based upon the 19th Century novel by Louisa May Scott, the story revolves around the chaotic, diverse and flavourful March family, which in essence is a close account of her own life. The narrative follows the story of the March sisters – Meg, Jo, Beth and Amy from their girlhood to adult life. In the time of the Civil War, the girls live with their selfless mother they so lovingly call Marmee, while their father, who serves the Union Army is stationed elsewhere. By the virtue of being women in addition to their lower economic disposition, the March sisters learn to go through significant things such as love, marriage, sacrifice, passion, career and death both as a family, and individuals or rather, women.

Ronan’s triumphant moment is the expression of this complexity; of having something perfect in your life yet knowing that it is not for you which wins the heart of the viewers.

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img courtesy: imdb

The riveting centre of the film, as Gerwig’s direction states, is Jo March – a feisty and passionate girl who dreams of becoming a writer and lives in society, which wants her to become anything else but a career woman. However, it is not Jo’s fight with the world, which is the highlight of the story but the complexity of her nature, so accurately directed by Gerwig and performed so spiritedly by Saoirse Ronan. Although Jo’s origin is more than a century old, it’s the intricacy of her character, which gives her a realistic existence even in contemporary times. On one hand, she is unable to sacrifice her freedom and her passion for writing but on the other hand, she is also able to understand the loneliness which comes as a sacrificial cost. She is a “living, breathing creature“, who holds back her response when love first arrives at her door. Even though love accepts her as she is, something which is rare in her life but also understands that it would be unfair to give into it when she doesn’t feel inclined towards it. It has always been either this or that but never this and that. Ronan’s triumphant moment is the expression of this complexity, of having something perfect in your life yet knowing that it is not for you which wins the heart of the viewers. Although the rest of the March sisters and Laurie are absolutely perfect in their roles, Jo undoubtedly remains the highlight of the film, as Gerwig intends her to be. In many ways, Little Women appears to be a continuance of Gerwig’s previous film Lady Bird with Ronan, which brought forward a similar, impassioned creature of contemporary times.

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img courtesy: imdb

It is a film with every emotion of life, which attempts to warm its viewers like sunshine on a cold December afternoon.

Gerwig’s mesmerising directorial eye comes into play by making every shot a parallel to the story’s emotional depth and even more so, by making the simple moments the most bewitching. In fact, the usage of warm colour tones and naturalistic cinematography in the shots enliven the emotional core of the narrative. Jacqueline Durran, the costume designer of the film has added another layer of magic to the film through the accuracy of her understanding. If attires spoke for personalities, Durran would be inspiration one would be looking for.

It is also hard to imagine anyone else adorning the lover-boy charm of Laurie apart from Timothée Chalamet, who is a true reminder of the muse Romantics wrote about. Florence Pugh brings life to every shade of Amy’s chameleon-like character with excellence and yet keeps her girlhood essence intact through it all. Meryl Streep delivers Aunt Josephine to the audience exactly as they would expect, who might be a little hard to adjust to but somebody who is loved nonetheless. Emma Watson elegantly portrays the eldest sister Meg, who epitomizes the balance between being a girl and a woman, in her maternal and lovely charm. It is a film with every emotion of life, which attempts to warm its viewers like sunshine on a cold December afternoon.