It is 2002 and I currently attend a Catholic school where technology is limited and certain members of the staff might have a stick up their butt. I was, in many ways, cut off and in the dark from the rest of the world and many social conventions that might be considered normal. To be clear, however, I was never upset about this fact because I knew no better. Lady Bird is set in rural California in 2002 with the titular character, Lady Bird (Saoirse Ronan)--also known by her government name, Christine McPherson--struggling through life like any teenager might. As she attempts to navigate love, popularity and her journey toward college, things continue to get in the way and life throws her a number of curveballs. She, and everyone around her will face things that they never have before and must find ways to cope with these difficulties.
There is something nostalgic about the scenes in Xavier Catholic School. The overhead projectors, the uncomfortably awkward uniforms and the somewhat misguided individuals that line the halls bring back memories of what it was like attending a Catholic school for the first nine years of my educational career. While this might not necessarily be the purpose of the majority of these scenes, these scenes do find a niche audience and appeal to them--adding dimension and meaning to an already emotionally loaded film.
Lady Bird dabbles in homosexuality, individuality and the struggle to understand the world. These themes are deep and they cut deep throughout the course of the film. Every second of Lady Bird has either direct meaning or hidden meaning and it never relents, forcing audiences to look inside themselves and outwardly at the world around them, analyzing every minute detail of the world’s existence. So many existential thoughts come into play as Lady Bird fights for her own independence and her ability to become something that she has always wanted to become, an individual. Why are things the way they are, and why can’t they be a different way? What makes the world go around, and what allows two people to co-exist? These questions and more are visited and revisited throughout Greta Gerwig’s Lady Bird and, while much of the film is quite depressing, it leaves audiences with a sense that things are okay (and if they are not okay now, they have the potential to be). Gerwig’s approach to developing a film reminds me of my favorite author, Paul Auster. In The New York Trilogy he mentions something along the lines of every word in a book matters, and that if it were not important the author would not have wasted his/her time including it in their text. This sentiment has been lost on some more modern works (both text and visual works), and, while this idea is not essential to the success of art, Gerwig finds it to be so. Audiences find themselves hanging on to every word and having to dissect her meticulously chosen words because they mean everything to the film.
Lady Bird Johnson is the nickname of the late first lady, and wife of former president Lyndon B. Johnson, Claudia Johnson. It is said that she received the nickname at a very young age from a nurse who said she was as beautiful as a lady bird (ladybug). Someone who possesses this name must exude beauty, inside and out, and possess a certain amount of innocence. Lady Bird McPherson does, in fact, possess these qualities, but the title perfectly represents the themes of Gerwig’s film. There is beauty in every moment and audiences become immediately engrossed in everything that Gerwig and her talented cast present to them throughout Lady Bird.
The casting is wonderful. The young and inexperienced Ronan does a wonderful job of embodying every aspect of Lady Bird’s personality. She projects innocence when necessary, but she is clearly headstrong and determined to get the most out of life. She absolutely deserves every nomination and every award that she won for her role in Lady Bird. Opposite Ronan is the seasoned Laurie Metcalf. She is known for her roles in Rosanne and Big Bang Theory and has done well for herself over the years. In maybe her best role yet, Metcalf plays Lady Bird’s mother, Marion McPherson. She is difficult and unappealing as a human being and is the perfect foil to Ronan’s Lady Bird. The two have impeccable chemistry and never fail to enlighten and entertain audiences.
I have to say that going into Lady Bird, I had low expectations as it appeared to be something I would struggle to appreciate. I set the bar low, but that is not why Lady Bird sits so well with me. Gerwig and her crew develop a story that reaches audiences on a number of emotional and psychological levels. It transcends audiences and appeals to audiences from high school age and up. Lady Bird is genius and deserves to be credited as one of the best films of 2017.
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