As I finished watching this Golden Globe nominated film, one quote that really struck me was from the central character Jo Marks (played by Irish actor Saoirse Ronan, 25) “Writing does not confirm importance, it merely reflects it”.
Labelled as a ‘coming of age drama’, the newly released and seventh film adaptation of Louisa May Alcott’s much loved 1868 novel treats audiences to an all-star cast, and a cinema experience that is one to remember.
If you do not already know, the story centres around the normal and everyday lives of the four March sisters: Jo, Amy, Meg and Beth, as well as their mother (Laura Dern, 52), and the man that sits at the top of the novel’s love triangle, their handsome neighbour Laurie (played perfectly by the rising star Timothee Chalamet, 24). Each sister has their own particular personality, making them enjoyable to watch on screen, and easy to root for when they experience their hardships and desires to find peace and freedom in their naturally restricted female lives.
Throughout the film, we mainly get to see the growing relationships that are of Jo, not just with young Laurie, but also with her writing, what her passion means both to her and her own self validation as a successful writer, but also for the economic benefits that getting her books published will bring to her family. We see the risings and fallings of sisterhood, and the strong effects of love and the way that it shapes our characters and their futures. By the film’s end, the audience feels as though they have gone through a whirlwind of an emotional experience, smiling as well as crying alongside the characters.
For me, one of the key aspects to get right for a film is to have it feature a cast of actors who are worthy and talented enough to do justice to the author’s original intentions. Well, there is no doubt that this adaptation, written and directed by Greta Gerwig who, in my opinion, should have been nominated for an Oscar for her work, is successful in doing exactly that.
Thanks to Ronan’s ability to successfully carry the strong minded lead role throughout the film, as well as Emma Watson’s (29) portrayal of the conformist Meg, Florence Pugh’s (24) embodiment of the rash yet repressed Amy and Eliza Scanlen’s (21) heartfelt performance as the young and innocent Beth, Little Women is the must see feel-good, moving, thought-provoking and life-confirming film of the year.
5/5