Little Women Review

Louisa May Alcott’s Little Women is seen as a classic piece of American literature and it has been adapted numerous times. Greta Gerwig’s all-star version is the eighth cinematic iteration.

Josephine “Jo” March (Saoirse Ronan) is an aspiring writer living in New York City after the Civil War. When Jo receives a letter stating that her younger sister is ill she rushes back to her hometown. She reflects on her life growing up with her sisters, Meg (Emma Watson), Amy (Florence Pugh), and Beth (Eliza Scanlen), and her relationship with Laurie (Timothée Chalamet.)

This is the first adaptation of Little Women I have seen, so this review should be taken with that perspective in mind. My reference point ended being Pride and Prejudice. Both stories focus on headstrong second daughters within families that feature nothing but daughters, have to navigate the issues affecting women of the time – i.e. women needed to find a good husband, and both families were in a financially delicate position. Jo shares some characteristics with an Austen protagonist because she is smart yet headstrong and opinionated.

Little Women had two main themes – the innocents of childhood and the harsh realities of adulthood. As children/teenagers, the March sisters were ambitious and those ambitions get crush as adults. Jo wants to become a writer and as an adult, she had to be the family breadwinner by being a governess and she has to sell sensationalist stories to work as a writer. Meg wanted to get married and ends up marrying for love (foolish girl). And Amy goes to Paris to become a painter but faces the reality that her opportunities would be limited.

Little Women looked at the role of women. In this time period women only had opportunities – they were expected to find a good husband. Amy states to Laurie (Timothée Chalamet) that marriage is simply a business transaction to ensure they have a good future. Amy points out that if she marries someone then everything she owns will become his. Despite the disadvantages, women suffered from in the mid-19^th century the March sisters are trying to take control of their destinies. Little Women can resonate with a modern audience and works as a feminist story.

Little Women had a fantastic cast and many were perfect in their roles. Ronan and Pugh were the best performers. Ronan already worked with Gerwig in Ladybird and her character in Little Women was a lot better because Jo was a lot more likeable. Jo was opinionated and couldn’t take criticism, but she was deep down a good person who was willing to make sacrifices for her family. Jo was the most headstrong member of the family who didn’t want to follow the conversions of her gender.

As a teenager, Amy was a bit of a brat due to being left out by her older sister. Yet as Amy grows up she becomes a smart woman. This role caps a great year for Florence Pugh who already showed off her talents in Fighting With My Family and Midsommar. Even though Pugh’s 23-year-old old she convincing played the 13-year-old version of Amy as well as the young adult.

However, the weirdest bit of casting was Scanlen as Beth. In reality, Scanlen would have been 18/19 when she filmed Little Women but for most of the film, she was playing a shy, younger character. Scanlen was fine playing those characteristics but it was distracting that she looked a lot older than the character was meant to be.

Little Women was Gerwig’s second film as a solo director. With this film, she was given a bigger budget and used it to the fullest. Little Women was bigger in scope than Ladybird due to the costumes and sets and Little Women did that with aplomb. Gerwig’s greatest trick was bringing energy to the period drama genre since period dramas have a reputation for being a bit stuffy. Little Women had life because of the humour, the camera movements, and the actions of the characters. The Marchs did act like real siblings, whether it’s a mishap with hairstyles or simply talking during Christmas.

Gerwig does pay great attention to detail. One detail I liked was the differences between the families in the Marchs’ hometown. The Marchs home was fairly modest, Laurie’s family were wealthy so lived in a manor house, and the poor family, The Moffats, home was a self-built shack.

Gerwig wrote the screenplay and she took an untraditional approach because she told two stories in parallel – the story of the girls growing up, and the girls in adulthood. She was able to blend the stories by having events in the post-Civil War period leading into flashback, like Jo going dancing in New York to Jo and Meg preparing to go to a ball or merging two visits to a beach. Because of this approach, Little Women stands a good chance to win awards for its screenplay and editing.

Little Women was deserving of most of the praise it has received because of the talent that was involved and the positive message it wants to tell girls.