Little Women / **** (PG)

Columbia Pictures

Jo March: Saoirse Ronan

Meg March: Emma Watson

Amy March: Florence Pugh

Beth March: Eliza Scanlen

Marmee March: Laura Dern

Theodore ‘Laurie’ Laurence: Timothée Chalamet

Aunt March: Meryl Streep

Mr. Laurence: Chris Cooper

Mr. Dashwood: Tracy Letts

Columbia Pictures presents a film written and directed by Greta Gerwig. Based on the novel by Louisa May Alcott. Running time: 135 min. Rated PG (for thematic elements and brief smoking).

When I saw Ladybird, Greta Gerwig’s directorial debut, there was no question in my mind that this was the ascendance of an incredible new filmmaking talent. Along with writing the Best Picture Oscar-nominated movie, director Gerwig showed a gift for imbuing a film with a sense of place, as its setting of Sacramento was a character itself. Her direction was original and took risks. It was worthy of every accolade that was lauded upon it. Never in my wildest imagination could I foresee even more of a leap in vision, skill and artistry in her sophomore effort because of how good her first effort was, but my, oh my. She is something. Little Women is nothing short of a masterpiece comparable to the works of the greatest directors in cinema.

I’ve never read the book by Louisa May Alcott, nor have I seen the 1933, 1949, or 1994 film adaptations–although I always meant to see the 90s version, I’m a big fan of Winona Ryder’s work. I don’t know how true to the novel this version is. I don’t know what changes Gerwig made, although it’s pretty obvious she made some significant changes. Some of the dialogue is given a modern take. Not so much as to take you out of the amazing immersion in the time period she pulls off, but enough to freshen it up for modern audiences and give a better sense of the emotions behind certain actions and exchanges. I suspect much of the order of events is changed with the way she jumps between the women they become and the events that made them so. She also conflates some of Alcott’s story about publishing her book with her main character Jo’s experience as a female writer in a time when women’s opportunities for gainful employment were limited.


The story follows Jo March and her three sisters, Meg, Amy, and Beth, in their pursuits of independence and happiness and love. It is a time that often does not afford any of these goals for women, let alone all of them. With their father away serving as a chaplain in the Civil War, theirs is a house of women, with their Marmee and servant Hannah left to raise them. They are often just the four sisters, however, as their mother serves as a good samaritan to any who are in need, work that often keeps her away. The movie jumps in time back and forth across a seven year period, from when Meg, the oldest sister, is on the cusp of her womanhood to a time when the three oldest have made their way into the world, leaving only the youngest, Beth, remaining in their home town of Concord, Massachusetts. When Beth falls sick with a second bout of scarlet fever, the older sisters return to their home.

Jo is the least traditionalist of them. Saoirse Ronan, who also starred in Lady Bird, seems to be a muse for Gerwig. Ronan’s performance is perfection as the sister who tries to break all barriers. The others do so in their own ways. Meg tries to embrace society’s ways, but cannot help herself but to marry for love over position. Perhaps Amy is most uniquely her own person, however, in the way she does embrace tradition while coming from such an unconventional upbringing. Emma Watson, of Harry Potter fame plays Meg, whose marriage for love causes her family some financial hardships. Florence Pugh pulls off perhaps the toughest transformation as Amy, however, having to play such a young girl in the earlier passages, who becomes more so than any of the other sisters a woman of the world, fighting her own battle of love vs. a more personal than societal position while in Paris as her wealthy aunt’s companion. Above all is their devotion to their sisterhood, however.

Gerwig handles these performances with apparent ease, making it seem as if everything in the film rests on the subject of the March women. She also enlists the skills of legends in the roles of Marmee and Aunt March, Laura Dern and Meryl Streep respectively. But, if you feel the story and performances are all there is to this film, Gerwig has cast her spell well. Beyond the story that Alcott told in her book, Gerwig’s screenplay taps directly into past and current women’s liberation movements. So much about the March girls stories touches upon the struggles and victories women are reaching in society today. Meg’s struggles with money speak to the inequality felt in many marital relationships. Jo’s desperation to publish speaks to the sacrifices many women make in their careers just to get work, and how those sacrifices can stifle their true talents and spirits. Amy’s choices are ones that might draw derision from those who don’t understand that not all women–or men for that matter–desire the same freedoms as others. Plus, the choices she’s forced to make between the two men who court her, one a lifelong friend and former suitor of her sister Jo, show a strength women aren’t often credited for in getting what they truly want or sacrificing for the greater good.

Gerwig’s artistic choices go far beyond character and story. Her cinematographer, Yorick Le Saux, in close collaboration with her costumer, Jacqueline Durran, and production designer, Jess Gonchor, and her entire art department, subtly manipulate every image to perfectly accentuate and punctuate the emotions above and below the surface of the film. Colors and costume and settings all function here in concert with each other in a way more beautifully and effectively than I’ve ever noticed in film. Jumping from time period to time period makes for little confusion because of the bold choices made with design and... haircuts. In a linear production the hair might not be so important, but it functions incredibly well here to inform the audience where they are in the timeline. 

What Gerwig presents to audiences here is not some stuffy period piece that gains praise for its historical accuracy or lofty romance, but it is the very celebration of womanhood and sisterhood that Alcott was creating at the time of her novel. The film is adroit and reflective of the nature in which the story was originally intended and reflective also of our modern outlook of feminist emotion and action. It’s an incredible marriage of ideals both historical and modern, and it ensconces Little Women as a beacon for feminism for yet another generational era of American women.