Lady Bird

There are times while watching Lady Bird that I felt like I was gazing back to a time when I was coming of age. I remember turning eighteen years old and thinking “Now I can buy those things I couldn’t buy before, like cigarettes or adult magazines. There is a scene mid-way through this film where Christine “Lady Bird” McPherson (Saoirse Ronan) does just that and the honesty in that moment is just one of the many highlights in Greta Gerwig’s directorial debut that show that she has a talent for looking at the world around her and transcribe it in such a way that we can all relate to it. We all remember that moment when we were suddenly old enough to be legally adults, even if we weren’t the type to run out and take advantage of those new found freedoms.

Greta Gerwig is a fascinating writer and director with a career going back to the mid 2000’s where she got her start in independent filmmaking alongside Joe Swanberg. Her debut picture, Hannah Takes the Stairs, was largely improvisational yet had a level of reality to it that elevated it above many of its contemporaries. It wasn’t a great picture but it was a good showcase of what Gerwig could accomplish with so little. The follow-up, Nights and Weekends, built on that with a story about two lovers in a long distance relationship. It was clear early on that Greta had talent, it was only a matter of time before that talent was allowed to take the reins of a major motion picture. 

Lady Bird, Gerwig’s directing debut, would prove to the world that she was capable of handling bigger projects as well as complex characters and situations. She would follow that up in 2019 with Little Women, an inspired adaptation of the classic novel that saw her get her second Oscar nomination for Best Picture. Incredibly, her biggest film thus far has been Barbie, a live action movie about dolls that pivots mid-way into a full-fledged examination of our male-dominated society in the guise of a silly comedy. Barbie would go on to gross more than a billion dollars and net Gerwig her third back to back to back Oscar nomination for Best Picture. She’s also credited on the screenplay for the upcoming Snow White, a film that seems destined to fail for a number of reasons, none of which will likely be because of the script. Needless to say, Greta Gerwig is one of the best writers of our current generation who has consistently churned out interesting films over a relatively short number of years.

Lady Bird started out as a massive, overwritten script titled Mothers and Daughters, not to be confused with the 2016 film of the same name. Greta described the film as autobiographical while at the same time completely fictional, a film that “has a core of truth that resonates with what I know.” She wanted the film to feel like a memory and in that sense she succeeded. I am neither a girl nor did I attend Catholic school but there were elements throughout the picture that I could attach to and relate with. Lady Bird’s struggles with life, money, friendship and a sense of belonging are all things nearly everyone can relate to in some degree or another. She dislikes living in Sacramento and longs to attend school on the east coast where they have culture, a dream that I, growing up in the north west, had, too. When she writes about her home city, speaking about it in what she sees as disdain, her instructor interprets all the details and observations as more than mere callousness, but a reverence for the area. 

She is also at that age where her family embarrasses her. They live on “the wrong side of the tracks,” and she is ashamed to have anyone at school see her house. When her father drives her to school she has him drop her off a few blocks early, claiming she likes to walk. He’s no fool. He knows she is embarrassed to be seen getting a ride with him. Her relationship with her mother is combative with the two women butting heads over virtually everything. The film opens with a shot of the two sleeping side by side, their foreheads almost touching, then cuts to a scene that perfectly illustrates their relationship. It starts with them just finishing listening to an audiobook of The Grapes of Wrath. They are both clearly moved by the book but when Lady Bird tries to turn the radio on afterwards to listen to some music the mood in the car shifts quickly. Mom, Marion McPherson (Laurie Metcalf) wants to sit in silence and immediately starts a fight with her daughter. The fight escalates to attacks on her character, calling Lady Bird ungrateful and that her dreams of going out of state for college are impossible. Lady Bird responds by opening the car door and letting herself fall out, at full speed, onto the road, breaking her arm. Throughout the film these two will argue with Lady Bird making the observation that what she really needs is to know her mother loves her, something she never hears directly.

Saoirse Ronan is the very picture of adolescent pique. This lends itself perfectly to a picture such as this. She has to convey a sense of naïveté and stubbornness without being off-putting. To aid in this she is paired with Julie (Beanie Feldstein), her best friend who is playing up the awkwardness of adolescence complete with a crush on her rather bland math teacher. One of the best moments in the entire picture is just a simple scene between the two lying on their backs and being themselves as they snack on a jar of communion wafers. It’s a small scene, easily overlooked, but it tells so much about these two so quickly. Their friendship anchors the first half of the movie and it hurts when Lady Bird leaves her behind in the pursuit of a more popular friend. This betrayal of their friendship is rough but does end up getting resolved in predictable fashion. 

What isn’t predictable is the direction Lady Bird’s love life goes. She gets in two relationships during her final year in high school; neither of which goes quite like she expected. The first, Daniel (Lucas Hedges), who generally likes her, refuses to get physical with her for reasons she will find out later. The second, Kyle (Timothée Chalamet), is more distant. He has no issues with physical intimacy but seems devoid of all emotions, at least towards her. His apathy towards everything in general is at first a turn on for her but will eventually clue her in to what she is losing by hanging out with him instead of her real friend. She learns more about herself from her experiences with these two and ultimately comes to terms with her feelings for both.

Greta has crafted a story that is at times raw and unpleasant but is also familiar. Life isn’t perfect. Sometimes it is downright ugly. But in all of that is a beauty that grows out of it. Marion cannot communicate with her daughter the way her husband can. Often she comes across as uncaring and  a bit of a shrew. Yet when she drops her daughter off at the airport, sending her off to college, she cannot hold in her emotions once she is alone. Later, Lady Bird will find some letters she had tried to write but thrown away. Her father rescued them from the trash and gifted them to her, showing a side of her mother she never sees. Not everyone is gifted at showing their emotions but she tried to in writing. It’s a beautiful moment and, if you can, freeze frame it so you can read just what is in those notes. It’s worth the effort. 

Lady Bird is not a perfect film; it has many familiar beats inheirant with this kind of film. But it is so well written and the characters, especially Lady Bird and her mother, are so well played that it’s easy to dismiss the weaker moments. This is an acting tour de force that also benefits heftily from a very well written script by a gifted writer. Greta Gerwig came out of the independent film scene and that sensibility is on display here. It’s a low budget film that feels bigger than it actually is. Just about anyone can relate to the angst Lady Bird is going through, including her compulsive need to rebrand herself with a name other than the one she was given at birth. 

Academy Award Nominations:

Best Picture: Scott Rudin, Eli Bush and Evelyn O’Neill

Best Director: Greta Gerwig

Best Actress: Saoirse Ronan

Best Supporting Actress: Laurie Metcalf

Best Original Screenplay: Greta Gerwig

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Release Date: November 3, 2017

Running Time: 94 Minutes

Rated R

Starring: Saoirse Ronan, Laurie Metcalf, Tracy Letts, Lucas Hedges, Timothée Chalamet, Beanie Feldstein, Stephen McKinley Henderson, and Lois Smith

Directed By: Greta Gerwig