Movie Review: Little Women
SPOILER ALERT: I’ll discuss aspects of character and plot in this review, so I recommend that you watch the film before reading my review. Even if you’ve read the book or seen the earlier film adaptations, this one bears watching. If you’d like to jump down to the end of this post for a short note on the film’s content before you watch it, feel free to do so.
I’ve always come to Greta Gerwig’s films with expectations. When I saw Lady Bird in the theater, I came to it with the expectations of having seen rave discourse for weeks before I had the chance to watch it. I learned a valuable lesson that day - to let a film wow you on its own terms. It took me multiple viewings of Lady Bird before I appreciated its splendor. Thus, I came to my viewing of Little Women with the expectations that come from viewing a new film from one of our great directors.
Surely, Little Women also bears with it the expectations that are inherent in adaptations. Here, you have Louisa May Alcott’s timeless novel as well as multiple other film adaptions that have been previously made.
This means that the March sisters are well-known to many, and they’re also familiar with expectations being placed on them. There’s Beth (Eliza Scanlen), the quiet musician who is stalked by sickness; Meg (Emma Watson), the wannabe socialite who feels the need to marry well to support her family; Amy (Florence Pugh), the headstrong youngest sister who has a somewhat strained relationship with the sister through whom we view the entire story. That sister is Jo March (Saoirse Ronan), a woman who wants to make her own way in the world through her writing.
The story takes place in Civil War-era America, but it jumps back and forth in timeline throughout the film. One of my favorite choices that Gerwig makes is that she mostly eschews text at the bottom of the screen to walk us through this. At the very beginning of the film, she puts one in there to show that we’re jumping back seven years in the story. But for the rest of the film, she uses cues and visuals to let us in on the fact that there’s been a time jump. This is done impeccably, and it’s part of what sets this apart from other adaptations.
Another part is the incredible cast. Saoirse Ronan is one of the finest actresses working today. That she hasn’t yet won an Oscar is somehow appalling even though she is only 25 years old. She is the foundation for the film and she plays Jo perfectly. It’s a fantastic performance. However, here she is upstaged by an even younger actress. Florence Pugh absolutely steals the show as Amy. She is just 23 years old, and I’m excited to see where her career goes from here. Ronan and Pugh are a powerhouse team here, but I thought Pugh gave the standout performance. Supporting them you have an incredible lineup of Watson, Scanlen, Laura Dern as Marmee, Meryl Streep as Aunt March, Tracy Letts as Mr. Dashwood - a publisher reviewing Jo’s writing, Bob Odenkirk as Father March who is away at war, Chris Cooper as the neighboring Mr. Laurence, and Timothee Chalamet as his son, Laurie, the boy who will factor into the romantic stories of two March sisters.
The biggest surprise of the film for me was that it instantly became my favorite Greta Gerwig movie. I loved Lady Bird, and I thought it was the best script of that year. But Gerwig has outdone herself here - not just through another fantastic script, but also through the fact that this film displays her keen directorial abilities on a larger scale. Though this film does tell a “bigger” story than Lady Bird - Gerwig is able to come to it with the same personal storytelling that made Lady Bird such a wonder.
The film has absolutely beautiful cinematography by Yorick Le Saux. There are painterly Civil War-era tableaus coupled with striking images that support the power of the story being told. That story is also supported by legendary composer Alexandre Desplat and a beautiful score. My best compliment for a fillm score is that it knows when to be present and when to step back. I can’t stand scores that underline moments for us and tell us when to be emotional. This film sidesteps those landmines and gives a beautiful supporting structure to the film’s story.
It really is the script and Gerwig’s direction that make this an all-time great film. The acting and the technical components I’ve mentioned elevate that material, but Gerwig absolutely nails every moment. She trusts the audience by structuring the story the way she does, and her execution of that very difficult structure is absolutely amazing.
One of the great aspects of how Gerwig’s script handles the timeline is how it sets up the love interest themes for the rest of the film. Writer Dana Schwartz had a fantastic Twitter thread where she compared the time-bending narrative of Little Women to that of Broadway mega-hit Hamilton. Both works of art introduce us to the romantic relationship that will remain to the end of the story, even though there will be other relationships along the way. However, to do this, the script has to move timelines around, which can be very difficult to pull off. That Gerwig does it is one of the many wonders of this film.
No story is off limits. Yes, this one has been done before. But the question should be whether or not the artist has something new to bring to the material. Gerwig clearly achieves this and with it she has made one of the year’s best films.
NOTE ON CONTENT: The film has a PG rating, and it is certainly appropriate for the entire family. There is romance in the film, but no adult sexual content is shown. There is also no profanity or violence. The only real somewhat adult content to speak of is some smoking and references to the Civil War, but nothing would keep this film from being one that all ages can enjoy.