A comprehensive look at Little Women
If anyone has seen me over the last two weeks, they've heard me gush endlessly about Little Women, which I've now seen twice in theaters. It's a masterpiece. A work of art. Arguably a perfect adaptation. If you haven't seen the movie yet, I urge you to go and experience the film in full beauty on the big screen. Now, I'm going to break down my favorite elements of Greta Gerwig's Little Women. There will be spoilers below for the plot of the book, movie, details about the movie's ending and specifics about the way plot points are portrayed. If you're still planning on seeing the movie, I recommend not reading any further until you've seen it (even if you know the story)!
The structure: When I first heard the format of Little Women would alternate between present and past timelines, I wasn't sure how it would come together and worried that it was inventive purely for the sake of being inventive. Boy, was I wrong. From the second that Jo sprints out of the newspaper office at the end of the movie's first scene, I found myself quietly tearing up in my seat. From there, I waited in anticipation for the story to return to childhood, which it did at the perfect moments, floating back and forth between timelines as Jo remembers both fun and trying times with her sisters. The two timelines are shot differently to help distinguish their place. The past is given a cozy, warm tint, and the present is more of a calming grey. Because most everyone already knows the story of Little Women, it's difficult to build suspense, but this new timeline adds to the story. You're not quite sure when Amy will burn Jo's book or when Laurie will make a proposal attempt. The moments hit harder when they're juxtaposed. Beth gets better and then she doesn't. Laurie gives the March girls keys to a secret mailbox and Jo walks by the mailbox again after turning down his proposal. The sisters have a joyous trip to the beach and Jo and Beth later return to the beach under much different circumstances.
The dialogue: Greta made the brilliant decision to write and direct the dialogue in a very specific way. When the sisters are talking, their lines are overlap in a way that feels so true to real-life, when a big family is all excitedly chattering together. It leaves me wanting to watch the scenes of the four sisters over and over again.
Meg: Meg enjoys acting with her sisters. Meg enjoys following the rules of society. Meg wants to be able to buy expensive things. Meg wants to get married and have children. Meg wants to care for Beth. Meg wants to marry for love instead of money. And in this movie, Meg can do all of those things at the same time. Oftentimes Meg's character can be reduced to the responsible sister who chooses to get married instead of trying to become an actress, but in the movie, her choices aren't ignored. They're examined and celebrated.
Beth: In previous versions of Little Women, Beth can sometimes be a bore, who is constantly sickly and too shy to speak. In this film, she's adventurous and quirky in her own way -- goofy with her sisters in their attic, brave enough to gather the courage to tell Mr. Laurence that she wants to use his piano, regularly confiding in Jo and often playing in her own world with her dolls. It's a refreshing dimension to the character that makes her death hit even harder.
Amy: Before watching this movie, I detested Amy. She burned Jo's writing!! That's the meanest thing you can do to a writer!! Florence Pugh (and Greta's writing of course) does wonders to frame Amy as a hilarious and ambitious character. Her line delivery had me laughing out loud and her ability to articulate why marriage is an economic choice for women was one of my favorite scenes in the movie. She retains her sometimes selfish Amy-ness, but you understand her better, thanks to the past/present jumps and the time focused on developing her story.
Jo: Of course, Jo is my favorite. Saoirse Ronan is a marvel, and she captures the spirit of Jo without ever making it over the top. She completely disappears into this iconic role, and makes me cry randomly throughout the film at her passion for writing, love for her sisters and desire to do right by her mother. As the story is of course centered around her journey, the past and present timelines work best on Jo's arc. In the present-day time she seems lost, like she's searching for memories and feelings that are gone. In the end she's able to recapture those feelings in her writing. In another one of my favorite scenes, Jo takes out a story with "For Beth" written at the top, sets it down on her writing table and gets to work, working day and night to get her story on paper. Her determination and the way the music swells makes this scene so beautiful and epic. Thanks to Greta's intense focus on detail, it infuses bits of the Louisa May Alcott and Gerwig's writing styles into the scene: Louisa May Alcott famously taught herself to write with both hands so she could alternate when one got tired (Jo does this throughout the scene) and Greta lays out her pages on the floor in order to really get a sense of her work (Jo does this as well).
Marmee: Marmee is angry, and I love it! And guess what? She always has been! This is only the second version of Little Women ever to take one of Marmee's iconic lines from the book and include it in the adaptation: "I'm angry nearly every day of my life." When I was in the process of reading the book a few weeks ago, I paused at how modern that line sounded. Laura Dern and Greta find ways to complicate Marmee and show her struggle and anger throughout the story -- whether it's in the quiet, tearful moment she takes by herself before putting on a happy face for her daughters or a moment of annoyance at a careless comment from her husband.
Other bursts of perfection: Timothée Chalamet as Laurie is delightfully charming, quirky, awkward and kind of an jerk, and I wouldn't have it any other way. Mr. Laurence is a sweetheart and his scenes with the March women are so beautiful. The magic of the March family is perfectly captured by the way Laurie isn't quite sure if he's allowed to come in to the house and then feels instantly at home when he's invited. The way men stand on the sidelines and marvel at the interactions of women. And Meryl is wonderfully ornery.
The ending: The internet is abuzz with different ways to interpret the film's ending, which mixes the book's actual ending (which Alcott was famously against) with some of Alcott's own story. I personally took the romcom-esque race to the train station as fiction, and the actual publishing of Jo's book and the beautiful scene at the school to be real (Professor Bhaer is present in the latter, but Jo is noticeably not wearing a ring). No matter how you took it, the ending provides a balance of tongue-in-cheek commentary, romance, proof that you can achieve happiness after tragedy and an ode to the power of female storytelling. Watching the final scene with the March family -- all of them together and using their talents to help the people around them -- struck me as so beautiful. Throughout the movie, Jo is searching for the magic of childhood, and in both the scene at the school and the publishing house, you see that she was able to recapture it again (in a new way) and share it with others. As the music swells, you once again feel that her writing journey is epic.
Greta: Basically everything I've detailed above exists because of Greta Gerwig's care as a screenwriter and director. Many of the articles below outline the incredible details that went into Gerwig's adaption of this classic piece of literature. Her fingerprints are all over the movie in the best possible way. I've never quite felt myself appreciating both the writing and directing of a movie as much as I did for Little Women. On both viewings, I found myself struck by how original yet timeless this film felt.
Haven't You Heard?
The infectious score of Little Women has been echoing in my mind for the last two weeks. Fortunately, Alexandre Desplat's beautiful music is available on Spotify, which allows me to revisit my favorite moments from the movie over and over again as I walk around. From the infectious beginning track appropriately titled Little Women to the epic Jo Writes to the ending pieces of It's Romance and finally The Book, it's perfect from start to finish.
Required Reading
In the weeks since the film's release, I've devoured article after article about Gerwig's creative process, the film's setting and more. Here's a compilation of some pieces and podcasts that will give you even more insight into Little Women:
Learn more about the paintings and movies that served as inspiration for Gerwig's cinematic style
A conversation between Meryl Streep and Gerwig inspired the way some of Amy's lines were adapted for the film!
In a podcast from The Economist, Anne McElvoy sits down with Gerwig to discuss the difference between male and female artists in the 19th century (spoiler alert: it's money).
In a hilarious article from Vulture, Rachel Handler travels to Concord, Massachusetts to ask the locals what it was like to have the cast of Little Women live in town for a few weeks. Turns out they mostly wanted to talk about Chris Evans sightings instead!
"This movie is big." What a headline from The New York Times for their rave review of the movie.
In a podcast with the Hollywood Foreign Press Association (I'm mad at them for snubbing the movie for so many Golden Globes nominations though...), Gerwig discusses her first experiences reading Alcott's work, creating Lady Bird and living in New York City.
Something I didn't quite pay attention to in the movie is the way food is presented, but apparently I missed out on some pink ice cream! Read more about the inspiration behind the way meals are presented in order to make the book come to life.
Two Washington Post reporters watched 15 hours of Little Women adaptations to prepare for the new film and they shared all of their thoughts.
Gerwig sat down with the Writers Guild of America's podcast to discuss... writing!
The ending of this Little Women can be interpreted in a few different ways! I've shared my thoughts above, but you can read a debate between two Slate reporters here.
And last but not least, the costumes!! Jacqueline Durran discusses the inspiration behind the character's style in several scenes from the movie, including how Laurie and Jo swapped clothing pieces.
