Brilliant Women

I saw the newest Little Women screen adaptation this week, and I loved, loved, loved it. Honestly, there have been so many treatments of Little Women over the years. So, so many, on both the big and small screens. But I think this one is the best.

Why?

The script. Writer-director Greta Gerwig has given us a genius reimagination of the classic tale we all know. By shuffling the order of the scenes, rather than re-telling the story from a linear perspective, she sharpens the meaning of plot events and helps us understand the characters more fully. She also emphasizes the narrative echoes in the original story and the early plot cues that might have been less important to a casual reader. 

More than that, though, Gerwig takes a bit of artistic license to make a deep, deep bow to Alcott herself. When writing the novel, Alcott initially didn't want to marry her protagonist Jo (clearly a proxy for herself) off to anyone (and certainly not to Laurie). But she did succumb to pressure and marry Jo off in the end. When I read the book, that marriage felt wrong. And I learned later why. Because Alcott never wanted to do it to begin with. 

In this movie, Gerwig unties that knot a bit and gives the viewer a wholly satisfying closure for Jo that never existed in the published book - a closure that sees right through the past 150 years and gives a knowing nod (wink?) to the original author. Brilliant.

The cast. This is the first adaptation of Little Women I've ever seen that gives Amy March her due. Partly because of the sequencing, partly because of scene choice, and partly because of casting. Amy is positioned as a thoroughly capable counterpoint to Jo, and it works. She becomes a much more sympathetic character than I've seen in any previous adaptation, in addition to a strong foil for Jo. I thought all of the casting choices were smart. The four March sisters are all realized and work wonderfully as a unit. Laura Dern anchors them as Marmie, and Meryl Streep is amusing as dour Aunt March. The movie also got the rough-and-tumble relationship of a group of four girls just right - how the girls talk over each other, are often just as physical as boys, have their own little internal social norms and hierarchy. As one of three sisters myself, those scenes felt so true.

This movie took an old story, a known story, and made it feel fresh again. If you're on the fence about seeing it, just go. A fantastic film!