Directed by Greta Gerwig. With Saoirse Ronan, Laurie Metcalf, Tracy Letts, Lucas Hedges. In 2002, an artistically inclined seventeen-year-old girl comes of age in Sacramento, California.
This FANTASTIC piece of work birthed by the AMAZING Greta Gerwig did not deserve this delayed post. As a mega busy college student who had finals to worry about and immediately travel for my study abroad program to Argentina right after, I apologize (mostly to myself because I promised myself that I would continue with this blog somewhat regularly, or after I see a film).
I believed that this would be a good time to finally write about the MAGNIFICENT Lady Bird due to its fresh Golden Globe wins (2, one for best picture- Musical or Comedy, and one for Best Performance by an Actress- Musical or Comedy, Saoirse Ronan) and Oscar buzz (5 noms, including Best Picture).
I cannot say enough good things about this film. It was absolutely perfect. Lady Bird didn’t have to utilize visual effects, giant explosions, or an unexpected heart-wrenching death sequence to make you feel or laugh. It was simple, pure, and honest in every sense. Greta Gerwig’s brilliant writing gives dimension to every character presented and it was so well put together that if an element of the film was taken out, it would not have thrived the same way.
The main character, Lady Bird (with the given name Christine McPherson) is played by Saoirse Ronan is a force to be reckoned with. She is a teenager living in Sacramento in 2002 and she attends an all-girls Catholic high school. She is independent, fierce, and a free spirit that is yearning to break out of the bubble that is Sacremento and go “where culture is.” She lives with her brother Miguel (Jordan Rodrigues), his girlfriend Shelly (Marielle Scott), her father, Larry McPherson (Tracy Letts), and her mother, Marion McPherson (Laurie Metcalf).
This unique coming of age story is unlike any other because of its raw, realistic, honest portrayal of familial relationships we all have experienced firsthand and seen in other pieces of works. We have the rebellious teenage girl, the overbearing mother, the boyfriend, the sweet and caring father, etc. but somehow Gerwig manages to reinvent these stock characters into something fresh. The film celebrates the relationship between a mother and daughter by showing the entire spectrum of emotion and the range and fluctuations it goes through. There are so many fights; Lady Bird and Marion argue back and forth, but there is also a whole lot of love. That’s what makes it so real for me because they use words to lash out but they both know how much they mean to each other because they pay attention and understand each other. They know deep down inside that although they are not always understood, they are loved immensely by one another. There is one part in the film where Lady Bird talks about how her mom is always mad at her, but she’s quick to defend her saying, “She loves me a lot” when Danny O’Neill (Lucas Hedges) said that her mom is hard on her. There is a constant push and pull where there are tender moments contrasted by bickering, and that is how people love. Not all relationships are perfect and sometimes the dysfunctional relationships are the ones with the most love.
Every character had immense depth. Greta Gerwig’s attention to detail achieved three-dimensional characters including what some people consider small characters like Father Leviatch played by Stephen Henderson or Miguel’s girlfriend Shelly. Julie Steffans (Beanie Feldstein), Lady Bird’s best friend, isn’t just another supporting character that follows her around and agrees on all of her decisions. Julie is an independent character that can decide for herself if Lady Bird is considered a valuable friend.
These characters, among others, had so much care placed on each of them in which it contributed to multi-dimensionality of the characters themselves as well as the world of the story. No characters were introduced and glazed over, and every character had enough depth worthy of another narrative. Constantly, the audience expects high school tropes, but they never come. Gerwig shatters the perceptions of a first love, youth attitude, and the coming of age story.
