Little Women (2019)
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Little Women Movie Review
Little Women is a 2019 period drama film directed by Greta Gerwig and starring Saiorse Ronan, Emma Watson and Florence Pugh among others. It’s such a wonderful adaptation.
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“I’m so sick of people saying that love
is just all a woman is fit for“
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It follows four sisters during the Civil War, and in particular focusing on their dreams, romances, careers and family interactions. This is actually the seventh adaptation of the eponymous classic novel by Louisa May Alcott. However, it still feels fresh and relevant due to its feminist themes and a terrific direction from Gerwig. It’s actually the greatest adaptation, the quintessential really, of this particular book, even better than the 1933 one.
The movie is brimming with newfound life and energy, which made it instantly engaging. What I particularly admired are its themes. Gerwig made sure to portray women as they really are and should be in real life – striving to have everything important. That doesn’t only include a career, but also family values, particularly focusing on a strong sibling bond. Some women are artistic types, some business ones, and some are of the domestic persuasion, and all are so realistically portrayed here.
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Let’s talk about the titular women and their actors. In my opinion, this is one of the best cast films of the year as each and every character got the best person to give them life. Saiorse Ronan herself is amazing as Jo, delivering what is one of the greatest performances of 2019, and her finest work so far for sure. She’s magnetic, and she brought to life her many complexities so well. I particularly liked her inner dilemma with marriage, and whether or not she wants it. That was superbly portrayed, and she is such a deep, flawed, and thus very relatable character not just to women, but to anyone who has ever found it difficult conforming to society’s norms.
I also found Emma Watson terrific as Meg, and quite underrated in what is one lovely role. It is important to have one of these women be more for marriage and romance, that’s only realistic. But Watson infused a lot of her charm into this simpler role, and made her more complex. I particularly liked the emphasis on fashion and how it expensive it must have been keeping track of it in the 19th century.
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But Florence Pugh as Amy is one of the revelations. Yes, she had a great year in 2019 with ‘Midsommar’ being noteworthy as well, but this is her best performance so far. She showed a lot of range, and excelled at both a younger and older version of Amy. I found this character believable, and quite interesting as her conflicts and competition with Jo made the movie more realistic and relatable to today’s audiences. She’s such a great character. As for Beth, she is such a sweet soul that ultimately her demise felt like a cold punch in the gut. Those tragic scenes in the film are truly heartfelt. On the brighter side of things, Meryl Streep as Aunt March is hilarious with her constant obsession with marriage and wealth providing a lot of healthy comedy to the proceedings.
I also loved Laura Dern as their mother. She was actually better here than she was in ‘Marriage Story’, and she played this simply wonderful soul superbly. I also liked all of the other supporting players, including the men who are all very well fleshed out too. The standout is of course Laurie, played so well by Timothee Chalamet who portrayed him very charismatically. I really liked the character and his relationships with the girls, though I would have personally gone without the love triangle. That was a bit annoying and typical, but thankfully not taking up too much of the screen time anyway.
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So yes, Little Women has absolutely fantastic character development, some of the best of the entire year. It’s also superbly adapted by Gerwig who, I agree with everyone, gave this classic material new life while also retaining its various core charms. As for the time jumping, it was pretty good. Sometimes that brought additional emotional intensity to the plot proceedings, and in particular the ending is powerful and a lot of fun with the recreation of the ending of her written book. But, sometimes I got lost a bit trying to decipher where I was in time as this device was used way too often, but the change in lighting did help out significantly.
Little Women is above all else amazingly crafted on all fronts, and superbly directed by Gerwig who with this blew her previous overrated effort out of the water. I found the production design absolutely spectacular, the costumes truly incredible and the best of the year, the score quite classical in tone and the attention to detail splendid. Some scenes are immensely romantic, incredibly charming and suitably old-fashioned. The editing could have been better and the dialogue is a bit obvious at times, but mostly this film is terrific, and such a pleasant surprise.
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The 2019 version of Little Women is the ultimate adaptation of this source material. Greta Gerwig infused newfound energy and life to this famous story while still retaining its core values and an immense charm. The editing and the time jumping can get a bit excessive, but it mostly led to increased emotional intensity. The film is old-fashioned while also being quite lively and fun, and it is technically gorgeous to behold – the costumes are absolutely amazing, the production design is splendid, the score is very good and the attention to detail in recreating its time period is remarkable. Its heart is always in the right place, its portrayal of women is complex and profound, and the character development is truly phenomenal. The standout aspect is the perfect casting with everyone delivering a terrific performance – Saiorse Ronan is incredible as complex Jo, Emma Watson is lovely as very likable Meg, Timothee Chalamet is quite charismatic in the role of Laurie, Meryl Streep is hilarious as wealth-obsessed Aunt March and Florence Pugh herself is a revelation, playing fascinatingly complicated Amy with a tremendous confidence.
