Little Women || A Bittersweet Coming of Age Delight

There’s this joy you get when you finally see a movie you always wanted to, and even more so when the movie meets and maybe even surpasses your expectations. I’ve had the original book for the longest time but I never read it. I was very interested in seeing the latest movie adaptation done in 2019. I found out that it was the seventh of its kind since the book was released in 1868, and for a book to have that many film adaptations, I just knew it wasn’t going to be found wanting.

Little Women (2019)

Written and directed by Greta Gerwig, this coming of age film tells the story of four sisters: Jo(Saoirse Ronan), Meg (Emma Watson), Amy (Florence Pugh) and Beth (Eliza Scanlen) March, and their awe-inspiring lives. It is 1868 and Jo is a teacher in New York City. She takes her work a few times to be featured in the paper but is told that it’s far too bleak. She returns to her home in Massachusetts when her friend, Friedrich, criticizes her work and also receives a letter that her sister, Beth’s, medical condition has worsened.

Then we are taken to 1861, seven years earlier, were the sisters are all together, going for dances and having a swell time. How Jo meets Laurie (Timothèe Chalamet) at one of the dances and they become friends, how upon the request of their mother, Marmee, the girls take their Christmas breakfast to a hungry family and come back to a table laden with food courtesy of Laurie’s grandfather, Mr. Lawrence. With a father out in the war who is dreadfully missed, Little Women tells a story too bitter-sweet for words.

My Thoughts and Rating

I tried not to reveal too much of my emotions while summarizing this film, but I’ll start by saying that I watched this film while making my hair in the salon and trying to ignore the pain I felt as my hair was being twisted in tight braids. So maybe the tears I shed were because of the braids and not the film itself, lol.

How can I tell you all how much I loved this story? I love coming of age films a lot because you witness the growth, especially if it’s bildungsroman in nature. There was a constant switch between the present and the past and your sure way of knowing is the fact that the past looks colourful and filled with life, a misty hue making you realize that you’re in the memory of someone, and then the present looks cold, greyish and awfully bleak.

You know how you’re conditioned to side with the protagonist? That’s how it felt. I was so invested in Jo March’s life, her success, her struggles... They all resonated with me like I was the one. When her sister, Amy, burnt her writings, rage filled me like no over because I imagined how I’d have felt, knowing fully well that even though you’re the same person who wrote it, the emotions are not the same. And then I cried again at the littlest things.

I kept wiping my eyes till the hairstylist turned to me and asked if everything was okay. I looked into the mirror and saw how red my eyes were and schooled myself to a semblance of calm, because why was I showing this much emotion in public? But honestly, if you’re a person that feels things deeply, you would enjoy this movie. I love movies about women. Love how I see myself in them. Love how relatable the things that cause them joy and sorrow are to me. So, it was a delightful one.

I can’t reveal the part I cried the most because I fear I’ve already given out far too many spoilers. I’m going to say one thing, though. The beauty of family. Kinship. There’s something about blood that makes your anger lessen. So, no matter how mad you are at your sibling, you know without a doubt that you would give your life for them if the occasion demanded it. I fought pain and fought resentment, but in the end I understood that this was how it was meant to be. And everything that happened led everyone to that moment of peace they felt in the end.

I love that I got to experience the movie that is Little Women, and I’m sure, like always, that the emotions in the book will be many more times rawer than the film. I doubt I’m ready for that, so I’ll make do with the bittersweet bliss the film offered me. A bit rushed and some vital parts weren't expanded on enough, but it's still an 8/10 from me. Couldn’t have found a better way to spend an afternoon.

Jhymi🖤

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_{Images from IMDB.}

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