Best Pictures #57: 2019 (92nd) Academy Awards Best Picture Nominee: Little Women (2019)

by A.J.

Best Pictures #57

 2019 (92^nd) Academy Awards Best Picture Nominee

Little Women (2019)

“I'm so sick of people saying that love is just all a woman is fit for.”

With Little Women, first published in 1868, Louisa May Alcott crafted a story so nearing perfection that not only has it become a classic, but it is difficult to mess up when retelling it. The fourth big screen adaptation Alcott’s novel, written and directed by Greta Gerwig, finds a fresh approach to the lives of the March sisters without making any major changes to the well-loved story. Gerwig uses a flashback structure, a steady and lively pace, equally lively performances, and a lovely score by Alexandre Desplat to make this period drama easily engaging to a modern audience. 

Gerwig begins her film near the end of Alcott’s story with Jo (Saoirse Ronan) living in New York trying to carve out a career as a fiction writer. Her sisters are scattered and wrapped up in their adult lives. Meg (Emma Watson) is raising a family and keeping a house while struggling with money. Amy (Florence Pugh) is learning painting in Europe. Only selfless and caring Beth (Eliza Scanlen) remains with their parents at the March family home in Massachusetts. Then the film flashes back to where to the novel and other film versions begin, with the sisters as adolescents living together under one roof with their mother, Marmie (Laura Dern, with infinite patience and warmness and wisdom). Their father is away serving with the Union army in the Civil War. It is seven years before we began with Jo living in New York.

There is real joy and emotion in the scenes of the March sisters together (that’s the appeal of watching any version of Little Women) but we get time with each of the sisters on their own. We get to know them as individuals and are privy to what is in their minds and hearts. Gerwig put together a fine ensemble but Saoirse Ronan and Florence Pugh have been singled out by the Academy with Oscar nominations in the Lead and Supporting categories, respectively. This is no surprise since Jo and Amy are the two showy roles.

Ronan brings just the right kind of energy to the rebellious, strong willed, sometimes abrasive, but always charming, Jo. She is full of life and personality without becoming a caricature. On the other hand, I found Florence Pugh’s performance as the youngest sister Amy (a child when the novel begins) so broad as to be distracting. Pugh plays Amy throughout the film, but the younger Amy’s behavior and actions have not been altered in any significant way. So, in the flashbacks we see an adult Florence Pugh speaking and acting like a child even though she looks like a teenager at the youngest (even with her Cindy Brady haircut). This unfortunately makes the younger Amy come off as odd and extra bratty.

Timothèe Chalamet is a perfect fit for the role of Laurie, the dreamy and charming boy next door destined to be intertwined with the March sisters. Chalamet brings a lively physicality to his performance, moving his long, slender body with a lilt that matches the energy of the movie. In smaller but no less entertaining roles are Meryl Streep and Tracy Letts. Streep plays the intimidating and acerbic Aunt March, who is rich enough to be able to speak her mind. She is full of 19^th century quips and zingers that are delivered wonderfully. Letts plays a grumpy New York publisher that is willing buy Jo’s stories if they are spicy and if Jo’s female main characters get married at the end, or die. Jo’s conversations with him are entertaining but also come right up against being too meta for the movie's own good (if you weren’t sure about Jo being a stand-in for Alcott, these scenes leave no doubt).

I have to admit that as much the jumps back and forth in time work for the overall structure of the film some of the cuts are not immediately apparent and it takes a moment to figure out where you are in the timeline. Once you get into the rhythm of the pacing, however, you’ll find yourself caught up in the film’s enthusiasm and love for its characters. Right from the start this version of Little Women lets you know that it is not a pageant, not just another recreation of a familiar story, but a new perspective on a classic story that gets to the core of what makes this story timeless. The climax of Gerwig’s adaptation, is not whether or not Jo gets married and to whom, but how she is able to stay true to herself and her dreams and her family.

Nominees: Amy Pascal, producer

Director: Greta Gerwig

Screenplay: Greta Gerwig, based on the novel by Louisa May Alcott

Cast: Saoirse Ronan, Emma Watson, Florence Pugh, Eliza Scanlen, Laura Dern, Timothée Chalamet

Production Companies: Columbia Pictures, Regency Enterprises, Pascal Pictures

Distributor: Sony Pictures

Release Date: December 25^th, 2019

Total Nominations: 6, including Best Picture

Other Nominations: Actress-Saoirse Ronan; Supporting Actress-Florence Pugh; Adapted Screenplay-Greta Gerwig; Costume Design-Jacqueline Durran; Original Score-Alexandre Desplat