Why the new Little Women adaptation is more than just a film for females | Rhiannon Lucy Cosslett
Greta Gerwig has created an inspirational movie, brimming with humanity. It should be required viewing for everyone
My sister-in-law confesses that she is nervous about the Greta Gerwig adaptation of Little Women, in cinemas from Boxing Day. In her family of women, the 1994 film starring Winona Ryder is a Christmas tradition; another version will, she fears, inevitably disappoint. Having just seen the new film, starring Saoirse Ronan, Emma Watson, Florence Pugh and Eliza Scanlen as the sisters Jo, Meg, Amy and Beth March, I assured her there was nothing to worry about. The rave reviews are pouring in, and to the universal acclaim I can add my own: this clever, spirited, witty adaptation is pure pleasure from start to finish. Furthermore, it serves as a timely reminder of just how feminist the original novel, published in two parts in 1868 and 1869, was.
“When I read it at 30 I couldn’t believe it, I felt like I’d never read it before,” Gerwig told the New Yorker. “I couldn’t believe how modern it was, how strange it was, how spiky it was. I’d allowed it to become this snowglobe of sweetness, and it was nothing like that. It was much more complicated.”