FemmeFilmFest Review: Lady Bird by Greta Gerwig

Lady Bird (2017) is a coming-of-age film that was nominated for five Oscars, including Best Picture. Directed and written by Greta Gerwig, this film stars Saoirse Ronan, Laurie Metcalf, Beanie Feldstein and Timothée Chalamet. Christine (Ronan), also known as Lady Bird, is a 17-year-old who is applying to colleges outside of Sacramento, and this film focuses not only on her journey, but also one of her mother as she deals with her daughter growing up and heading to further places.

This film is held together by the relationship between Lady Bird and her mother (Metcalf), so it is important to establish that relationship right from the start. The script showcases the different layers of emotion that both characters go through together, from frustration of their inevitable separation as Lady Bird grows us and is ready for college, to the more nuanced and simple moments just as a mother and daughter picking out a dress for a big event. If you have a strong bond with a parent, like I do with my own mother, you will buy completely into this relationship.

This relationship is easy to buy into because both actresses in the roles, Ronan and Metcalf, give wonderful performances. It is not only their loud and dramatic moments that they shine in, but also when nothing major is demanded from them. Ronan excellently portrays the misunderstood quirky teenager in Lady Bird, as well as the emotional aspects of her as well. Metcalf gives a fabulous performance as the mother, and plays someone who we can relate to and care about as a mother.

In films like these, it is easy to focus on one relationship and completely forget about the rest of them. This film does not do that. There is a storyline involving Lady Bird and her father (Tracy Letts) that highlights their relationship in a smaller but majorly impactful way. This film also explores the other relationships that Lady Bird has, including with her friend Julie (Beanie Feldstein) and the boys that she starts dating, Danny (Lucas Hedges) and Kyle (Timothée Chalamet). All of these separate relationships have impact both on the narrative and Lady Bird herself, and it is great to see the script handle this many relationships and make them all work towards a conclusion.

The story itself is simple in presentation: a coming-of-age film set in Sacramento, California. However, this film works in that sense. Because of the simple presentation, the film has a chance to allow further development of the main characters, mainly of Lady Bird. This film is set in the space of a school year, allowing for many changes to happen throughout and to show a true development of character in a long span of time. It is also believable as a coming-of-age film, and it felt like a genuine coming-of-age story.

Despite the simple premise and narrative, the film does tackle some harder themes in the coming-of-age story. One of these is religion, in the case that Lady Bird goes to a Catholic school despite not being seen as a Catholic herself. The film follows Lady Bird as she wants to break away from the Catholic school in favour of adventure and discovery, but also does this in a way that is respectful to the religion. There is one storyline in particular including the character of Danny, and seeing his relationship with religion become complicated. This is an emotional storyline, and one that is done very well.

This film is quite short, only coming in at 94 minutes long. It never gets boring with that length of time, and the film never feels rushed. I would have perhaps liked a slightly longer cut, an extra ten to fifteen minutes, just to perhaps add more to Lady Bird and Julie’s relationship. Most of these coming-of-age films are filled with the importance of friendship, and I feel like this one almost ignored the strong friendship for shaky romantic relationships and powerful parent relationships instead. Having a stronger friendship shown on screen may have elevated the school sequences a little bit more.

Overall, this is a beautiful film from Greta Gerwig, and it makes me feel very confident about Little Women coming out later this year. The script is incredibly strong for a film of such a simple premise, and I am simply not sick of the coming-of-age story yet. In fact, it may just be my favourite sub-genre of this decade. If you missed this one back in 2017, I would highly suggest checking it out.