Written for the screen and directed by Greta Gerwig

Starring Saoirse Ronan, Florence Pugh, Emma Watson, Timothee Chalamet, Laura Dern

Little Women is so wonderful that it wiped the despair I had him in me from the annoying Birds of Prey. This is the kind of movie that makes you want to talk about movies, that makes you want to make them. I see it inspiring an entire generation of filmmakers. A movie like this set in the 1800s, that is so dialogue heavy, and such an actors movie risks being pretentious and boring. They’re usually the type of movies I’d like to avoid. Little Women is neither, and instead is so hypnotic that its 2 hour 15 minute runtime flies by. Had I made a best films list for last year, Little Women would be high on it. I don’t know why I waited so long to see it. This is the first movie I have seen by Greta Gerwig, and it will not be the last. It alone shows me the ushering in of an auteur, a storyteller who has complete and great command of her craft. Who knows how to pace and edit her scenes just right. Who knows that music should accompany or elevate, and never distract. And even though this is instead an actors movie, I saw Greta’s voice in there, quietly moving everything along perfectly. I didn’t want this movie to ever end.

This is apparently the seventh film adaptation of the famous novel (which I have not read). I remember the 90s movie with Winona Ryder was on tv a lot when i was a kid, but I only ever caught parts of it, and was too young to understand what it was about. Before tonight I had zero idea what the story was or what was going to happen, and I’m glad it was this way. I can’t speak to how this movie adapts its source material, all I can tell you is about the movie itself, which is incredible.

The story follows the lives of four sisters, from their youth all the way into adulthood. It cuts back and forth from present day to the past 7 years apart. It’s a stroke of genius. The edits heighten the dramatic irony, and the juxtapositions of the same people from different timelines is at times heartbreaking. The whole thing is mesmerizing.

The four sisters are Jo, Amy, Meg, and Beth March. Their family is poor. Jo (Josephine) is tomboyish, spends all her time writing stories that she wants to matter. The movie opens with her trying to sell one of her stories to a publisher, who agrees to pay for it on the terms that she cuts it much shorter, and has the female lead get married at the end. Or dead. Either one. A later moment someone she wants to impress early on expresses his dislike of her work, that it’s too dark. His brutal honesty hurts her, and the movie takes a jab at critics. Jo doesn’t like the idea of marriage at all.

Amy likes to paint, and wants to be a great artist someday. But she realizes her dreams won’t work in the world, and sees the realistic outcome of marriage as an economic proposition for women. She’s always known she will marry rich. “I’m not a poet, I’m just a woman”.

Meg is the spoiled one of the bunch, always resting on appearances. Always wanting what her friends have that her family cannot afford. She hates that her family is poor.

Beth is the quiet one, and a musical prodigy. The kind neighbor says she reminds him of his daughter who passed away. Her piano playing comforts him. She loves Jo’s stories and begs her to keep writing.

The spazzy Timothee Chalamet is Laurie, the grandson of that neighbor, who is an integral part in the March’s lives. Because he has loved Jo since the moment they met, even though we know she cannot return it. Amazing that the movie tells us this in one of the first scenes before we even see the two of them interact once.

The acting in this movie is fucking amazing. There’s not a bad performance. Not one. Even the passive Eliza Scanlen, who seems stoic as Beth, makes sense by the end. Emma Watson is good as the entitled yet not annoying Meg. Timothee is just right as Laurie, who you immediately believe as that boy next door for this family.

And at the heart of it all is Saoirse Ronan and Florence Pugh. Whose sisterly relationship of Jo and Amy balances everything. Two girls who have starkly contrasting views on life. Jo, who never will compromise her convictions for the constraints of society, and Amy who understands what the world is and accepts it. Amy always feels second to Jo in everything.

I saw Florence back in Midsommar, and she was great in that (although her role was not so fun to watch at times). As Amy she is a revelation. Her understanding of what it means to be a woman in this time comes out so bluntly to Laurie, and it’s not preachy. None of this is. And the camera has the patience to follow her as she speaks. I’m floored.

And Saoirse Ronan, the leader. A powerhouse performance if there ever was one. I saw only Jo March, never an actor. She was that character. The movie’s hypnotic and mesmerizing storytelling are lead by her. I couldn’t stop watching her. She has a way of making everything so personal, I got wrapped up in her life, I was never bored. I was never restless.

And again, I’ll say this is an actors movie. But it could not have been done without Greta, who both adapted the script and directed. She knows how to move her actors, and the camera with them. None of it is distracting, none of it is stupid or dull or boring or lifeless or preachy or useless. She frames everything right for each and every moment. Shockingly it never repeats itself. Even though there is so much talking I always kept up. Even though it is all the same characters meeting up with each other at different times, it’s always interesting. It was edited by Nick Houy, who also worked on Ladybird with Greta. Together their timing is flawless,  and it has to be to make this story appeal to people who might not like the source material otherwise. No one scene lingers too long. The right attention is paid to each and every major person.

It’s also fucking gorgeous, with colorful and tantalizing lighting. The past scenes are bright and euphoric to suggest the excitement and hope of youth. The present day scenes are slightly dimmer to suggest the gloomy passage of time. Only once does the movie have a “7 Years Earlier” title card at the beginning. After that it’s all in the lighting, acting, editing and camerawork. This movie doesn’t talk down to its audience. It knows you’re smart enough to figure out when things are taking place, so you’re more invested. I was never lost. 

I can’t believe how good this movie is. I could watch it again easily. And I could talk about it for hours. And praise Saoirse Ronan forever. And Meryl Streep is here as their aunt, who ironically pushes the pressure of marriage on her nieces. That casting alone should tell you something. This movie is about these women, about how their lives were almost decided for them at birth. How they have to concede their wants to society’s needs. The lessons they learn by the end broke me. I had tears in my eyes at certain points and that was the very last thing I expected. It does not shout its themes and values, but instead whispers its messages to you, and hopes you’ll listen. I want to keep listening.