Little Women (2019 film)

Little Women has been adapted into film a total of seven different times (excluding any TV programs, musicals, and stage plays) throughout its lifespan. Since the original 1868 novel written by Louisa May Alcott is so universal in its messaging and so timeless in its delivery, it’s a story that can and has stood the test of time and existed within the cinematic space since its early days to its comfortable present. With a new era and several past attempts, any new version would need to change a few things up in order to feel relevant, and that was the task that Greta Gerwig had to take on when she took up the mantle to direct and write said latest adaptation in 2019, resulting in a picture that was definitely more than just ”the latest outing”. In 1868 New York, Jo March (played by Saoirse Ronan) is a teacher who makes ends meet by publishing the stories she writes in local newspapers, yet faces restrictions from editor, Mr. Dashwood (played by Tracy Letts) who feels they don’t contain enough wholesome material for a female-led story. Before she can resolve this issue, she decides to return to her old home of Concord, Massachusetts after receiving a letter that her younger sister, Beth (played by Eliza Scanlen) has grown worse due to her illness. Being back results in her reminiscing to seven years earlier, when Jo, Beth, oldest sister Meg (played by Emma Watson) and youngest sister Amy (played by Florence Pugh) lived their moderately secure yet still humble lifestyle with their mother, Marmee (played by Laura Dern) and contemplated what their futures would look like, especially with their father (played by Bob Odenkirk) fighting in the American Civil War. Jo’s rowdy and tomboyish nature mixed with her overall passion and desire to become a writer rather than marry makes their wealthy Aunt March (played by Meryl Streep) view her as a lost cause, yet draws in the attention of their wealthy neighbor, Laurie (played by Timothée Chalamet), who eventually becomes a part of the sister’s tightly knit group. They experience a happy childhood together, but with the pressures of growing up veering ever closer and with each sister taking their own direction in life, how much will each need to sacrifice of their own self for the betterment of those around them? Despite being the seventh iteration, Little Women clearly still has a strong hold over audiences, managing to receive critical acclaim upon release, earned $218.9 million at the box office against its $40 million budget, and was nominated for six Academy Awards (though only managed to take home one). With stellar performances, a smart retooling of the story, and one heck of a great directing and writing job from Greta Gerwig, this latest adaptation more than deserves its existence.

While it’s impressive that a story can last this long in the pop culture space and still be relevant in its themes and messaging over a full century later, there is always going to be a risk with adapting a story multiple times as it can very easily become redundant in its delivery regardless of how well it pulled off. However, the talent they picked to work on this film clearly showed an appreciation for the original novel, but also knew they would have to update it to make it feel different. They not only managed to get producing credits from people like Amy Pascal (who owns Pascal Pictures and helped produce films like Molly’s Game, The Post and Spider-Man: Homecoming) Denise Di Novi (one of the most prominent women producers in Hollywood with movies like Heathers, Edward Scissorhands, The Nightmare Before Christmas, Crazy Stupid Love and Practical Magic under her belt) and Robin Swicord (the writer of the equally beloved 1994 Little Women adaptation starring Winona Ryder), but this story feels like it was tailored made for a creative like Greta Gerwig to lead, considering her exploration of female topics in her brief but still potent filmography, shown quite clearly with her highly successful directorial debut with the 2017 film, Ladybird. The layout of the narrative is presented in a non-linear fashion and told out of order from its original novel structure, which creates a different dynamic from other adaptations that could easily be confusing, but the movie is crafted in such an expertly tight manner that it never once feels confusing, repetitive, or boring throughout its two-hour length. Gerwig’s directing is incredible throughout, capturing the classical appeal and quaintly earnest emotional draw of the story whilst still being able to modernize this idea with more aggressive acting and time-relevant topics that still match with the original story’s intent. The story was already fantastically written by Louisa May Alcott with punchy dialogue, strong emotional resonance and effective narrative-building, and Gerwig follows suit with her own inclusions and mapping out a screenplay that ties together a plot that is actively tells a story out of order, but in a way that still feels coherent, features plenty of impressive showcases of visual storytelling and great pieces of dialogue, and contains differing elements to make it feel fresh and different all these years and adaptations later. The pace of the dialogue is very quick and rapid to the point that it could almost be hard to follow, yet it’s filled with such personality and feels so genuine and real with how the people say them that you hold off every single line. It’s an incredible work from Gerwig and proves her as a capable filmmaker and not just a one-hit wonder.

The casting directors for this film, Kathy Driscoll, and Francine Maisler, deserve so much praise for who they picked to star in this film, as not only is the cast incredibly strong and contains a lot of recognizable and likeable people, but the casting for these characters is so pitch perfect that it actually transcends beyond just the quality of their acting abilities. What that means is that some of the actors aren’t doing anything astronomically different from their usual work, yet they so naturally fit within these roles that it doesn’t feel that distracting and perfectly works in the movie. People like Chris Cooper, Meryl Streep and Laura Dern don’t have any moments of out-of-the-box acting, but their roles still come across as engaging and memorable because they feel so natural to their own personas and therefore, come across as extremely genuine. Timothée Chalamet is also really good as the film’s male support, providing an older brother figure for the sisters (maybe even sometimes more for some of them) which leads to a lot of great scenes between each of them as he shares wonderful chemistry with pretty much each actress, and his role (while a little underwritten) is still brimming with enough life and charm that you really enjoy watching him. While the support is important to make this story work, this film wouldn’t stand a chance if they failed to portray the sisters effectively. Jo, Amy, Beth and Meg are very strongly written characters who have a lot of personality and are given great diverging narratives that each tie into the book’s theme of female domesticity and the trials that a women has to overcome when it comes to deciding whether to pursue her own dreams at the risk of failing and being left alone, or settling for a conforming simple life as a bride without any desires of their own. Thankfully, they are portrayed quite well here, with each sister getting their own time to shine, their personalities and livelihood are highlighted and given insight (especially when it shows how their stories end) and are held together by some pretty solid performances. Saoirse Ronan is very strong as Jo, capturing the character’s energy, passion and drive very effectively and very authentically, making for a really great lead character. Florence Pugh as Amy can be a little weird at times especially during the flashbacks where she is supposed to be playing a 10-year-old (when she clearly doesn’t look like one), which can make her performance come across as whiny and unnatural, but when she’s an adult, she handles those moments quite well. Eliza Scanlen isn’t given much to work with as Beth (due to the direction her character takes in the book), but what is provided is done well enough and while Emma Watson is sadly not the best actress and that does come across when a serious moment plays out and it feels pretty flat, for 80% of the film, she’s not too bad.

It’s funny that the only Oscar this film took home was for Best Costume Design by Jacqueline Durran (a well-regarded costume designer in her own right), because from a technical perspective, this film is honestly nothing special and it is arguably its weakest element. This isn’t to say that it done badly, as the costumes, production design by Jess Gonchor, and even the cinematography by Yorick Le Saux has its moments where it stands out and is effectively handled. It’s nice that you are able to tell the difference between the separate time periods through the attires, colors, and lighting saturation alone, and there are definitely a few shots that capture the simple beauty of this story through a very small or even very dramatic shot, but the overall aesthetics for the film just feel acceptable and standard for this kind of period piece, nothing more and nothing less. The musical score by Alexandre Desplat is also a little uneven in parts, but it does at least work out as the film keeps going. It also feels very traditional, and the simple piano melody doesn’t make it the most intriguing or fresh take for a piece for this kind of movie, location, or time period, but as the film passes its second act, it starts to feel a bit more active and melodic without going fully overboard and it results in a nice sounding piece albeit an unmemorable one.

The 2019 Little Women stands proudly amongst its other sister films for modernizing a classic story in a manner that doesn’t feel preachy or overly distracting, delivering an adaptation that hits all the right and expected notes while dialing up the charm and wholesomeness (as well as the legit emotion) to result in an overall very impressive feature film. With very good casting, an outstanding writing and directing job from Greta Gerwig and enough new sprinkles to feel like its own version while still sticking true to what the original source stands for. There’s bound to be a version that most people gravitate towards considering how many of them there are (with most truly adoring the Winona Ryder version to this day), but it’s nice that this version also has a chance of being someone’s favorite later down the line. It seems that no matter how many times its retold, you’ll always be able to get something from these little women.