These days, my cinema trips are sporadic. That is, until something I’ve waited for, for a while is to show in my local indie cinema. Last month it happened to be Greta Gerwigs’ Little Women. I have long loved Louise Alcott’s tale of the close-knit March family in Little Women, and their lives in Americas’ New England. Both in page form and audio-read I’ve listened and read the story many times.
Greta Gerwig’s’ adaption of the much-loved tale I think is a fresh new look into the individual lives of the March sister Jo, Beth, Meg and Amy. The constant switch between segments of the story to me creates a more rounded, exciting and captivating setting than that of a continuous-time period. There is an uncanny sense of comfort among the actors, especially the younger characters, including Timothy Chalamet’s ‘Teddy’. The chemistry is joyful and playful, while concerned expressions and body language show evidence of familiarity among the cast.
I loved the costumes in the film, and imagine the colours and styles being identical to those of the settings’ era. It was also interesting to learn from a Hapers Bazarr interview that she allow actor Timothy Chalamet to dress himself, but first ‘to research and read essays about dandies and flaneurs—a.k.a. fashionable French male socialites—as well as the work of 19th-century poet Charles Baudelaire’. Something that I did that a bit off was the casting of French actor Louis Garrel as Professeur Bhaer. I think that the confusion was due to me having seen Bernardo Bertolucci’s ‘The Dreamers’, a beautifully shot if a slightly unnerving film, in which Garrel starred. I couldn’t quite seem to take the scenes with Garrel’s earnestly as perhaps was desired, but nevertheless, I thought he was very believable in his part as the kind and earnest German professer.
Director Greta Gerwig, having worked written and produced such films as Mistress America and Frances Ha with partner Noah Baumbach has been able to create a movie with her style of visual language. Her humour is raw, relatable and appealing to a more young audience. Though I think it could have been easy to have over-done such a classic tale that has had its share of adaptions, Gerwig seems to have taken the story and create a new, powerful dynamic that takes a more feminist stance than I think previous versions have evoked.
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