They are the ambitious siblings, Jo and Amy, but Little Women gives equal weight to the domestic goals of Meg (Emma Watson), and to the just developing ones of the shy Beth (Eliza Scanlen), as well as to the guidance of their kindhearted mother Marmee (Laura Dern) and haughty Aunt March (Meryl Streep). The journeys of the two characters, often at odds, get placed in counterpoint - their creative aspirations, their desire to see more of the world, and their respective clear-eyed assessments of the limitations put on them by society. But while Jo, played by Lady Bird lead Saoirse Ronan, is still central in this version, Amy, played by the marvelous Florence Pugh, is right alongside her. The rambunctious Jo, the iconoclast of the family, has always tended to be seen as the story’s driving force. But her boldest, by far, has to do with how the film elevates Amy, the youngest and, traditionally, the least loved of the four March sisters. The biggest choice Gerwig makes is to cut Alcott’s narrative into pieces and rearrange it by theme rather than chronology, using color grading to distinguish the past from the present. It doesn’t just brim with life, it brims with ideas about happiness, economic realities, and what it means to push against or to hew to the expectations laid out for one’s gender. Gerwig’s Little Women demands its viewers reconsider these familiar characters and what we’ve always assumed they stood for. It feels, exhilaratingly, like the throwing down of a gauntlet. ![]() If, at the time, taking on such well-trodden material sounded like a staid choice for someone with the world at her feet, well, the film that she went on to make feels quite the opposite. ![]() It’s been the basis for no fewer than eight film adaptations, the latest of which comes from Greta Gerwig, who opted to have a new Little Women be the follow-up to her 2017 solo directorial debut Lady Bird. ![]() Louisa May Alcott’s novel has spawned Broadway productions and anime series, contemporary reimaginings and television musicals. Photo: Wilson Webb/CTMG, Inc.Ī century’s worth of artists have tried to leave their mark on Little Women. From left, Emma Watson, Florence Pugh, Saoirse Ronan, and Eliza Scanlen in Little Women.
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