This film, recommended to me occasionally over the years, was actually really good. It resembled a family relationship that I could relate to, without being immensely heavy, and I found it emotionally ‘diverse’ enough. It’s fundamentally a coming-of-age film that handles a girls battle for her own identity. Lady bird fights to have the experiences that ‘normal people’ get to have.
What is the film about?
Christine McPherson's (Saoirse Ronan's) senior year of high school in 2002/03 is presented. The younger of Larry and Marion McPherson's (Tracy Letts, Laurie Metcalf) two children, Christine outwardly hates most of the aspects of her life: She hates that they have long endured an existence of barely scraping by, and their situation is even worse now in the poor economy that has led to Larry being laid off and Marion needing to work double shifts as a counselor at a psychiatric hospital just to keep their heads above water, and Christine's big brother Miguel (Jordan Rodrigues) and his girlfriend Shelly Yuhan (Marielle Scott) moving back into the McPhersons' small, already-overcrowded house with one bathroom now for five people. She hates that what her parents have decided to spend on her within their already tight budget is an expensive Catholic private-school education at Immaculate Heart, solely because Miguel witnessed long ago some violence outside Sacramento High School, where she would have gone otherwise. At Immaculate Heart, her only friend is the equally-poor Julie Steffans (Beanie Feldstein). Lady Bird hates living in Sacramento and is determined to attend an Eastern liberal-arts college, preferably one in New York City, using financial aid, rather than attending a California college like nearby UC Davis, for which she would be eligible for an in-state tuition reduction. Getting into any college is questionable because she puts little effort into her schoolwork despite being bright, except perhaps in math. But what she hates the most is her strained relationship with her mother Marion, who is always bad cop to Larry's good cop. Marion and Christine's strained relationship is exacerbated by both being strong-willed people. Christine believes that her mother might love her because she has to, but doesn't actually like her. Christine has decided to rename herself "Lady Bird", something she wants everyone to call her from now on. As Lady Bird goes through some major events her senior year--from discovering a new extracurricular activity which includes boys from neighboring St. Francis Xavier; to testing the waters of dating, possible first love, and the prospect of sex; to wanting to be part of the in-crowd; to truly putting some effort into her short-term post-secondary dreams--she and Marion might only have a short time to express their true love for each other, family or not, before it's too late.
[IMDb]
To me, this film encapsulates a young girls desire to ‘fit in’. Lady bird is so desperate to have all of the experiences that she expects, however her family troubles ground her. Her mother fights a silent battle (personally i dislike this character but) and she struggles to emotionally connect with her daughter, until later in the film, in writing. Larry (Christine’s dad) struggles with depression, and Christine’s brother’s girlfriend, Shelly, struggles with fitting into her new family, after her biological family let her down.
Does the film belong to a particular genre?
I would classify this film as a coming-of-age film, a subgenre of teenage. This is purely because of the characters ages and the themes discussed.
Who made the film?
Greta Gerwig actually garnered the most interest for this film, with people titling it as her ‘big break’. In the industry, Gerwig has been coined as “the feminist director”, with most of her films surrounding female lifestyles. The film fundamentally is her life, from her graduation from a catholic school in Sacramento to her mother being a nurse…
Gerwig was born in Sacramento, California, and grew up in the River Park neighborhood.[10] She is the daughter of Christine, an OB-GYN nurse, and Gordon Gerwig, who worked for a credit union on small business loans.[10][11] She is close to her parents and they make an appearance in Frances Ha as her character's parents.[11] She has an older brother, a landscape architect, and a sister, a manager at the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.[12][13][14] Gerwig has German ancestry.[13]
Gerwig was raised a Unitarian Universalist.[15] She attended St. Francis High School, an all-girls Catholic school in Sacramento, and graduated in 2002.[11][16]She has described herself as having been "an intense child."[17][18]
(Every detail is similar, even down to the year she graduated.)
How does the film represent particular individuals or groups of people?
Ladybird herself learns that the rich are not all happy and as beautiful as their houses that she dreamed of living in. The film develops the ideas that depression is not always visible (Christine’s dad), relationships aren’t always clear cut (or good at all), and that being gay is ok 🤷♀️. In every way possible, Christine supports those around her in the end.
What was your personal reaction to the film?
Personally, I hate Timothee Chalamet’s acting, so I had low expectations. Don’t get me wrong I think he’s a nice enough person, his acting is normally so dry (I watched Beautiful Boy, and it’s a cinematic masterpiece in itself, but the scenes where Timmy isn’t crying are mostly awful). Saoirse Ronan is always a brilliant actor, so her performance was beautiful as always. I actually loved this film (surprisingly) because of the representation of teenage girls longing for a sense of normalcy that just doesn’t really exist. Christine aims for “perfect”, but perfect is different for everyone.
Overall:
⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ (.5) /5
(Timmy annoyed me too much)