Con’s Score: 3 Spoonfulls Of Sugar
The March family lives in Massachusetts, and their father, (Bob Odenkirk) who’s a pastor, is off saving souls during the civil war. Their mother, Marmee (Laura Dern) is saving the spirit of Christmas for a poor family by taking their lavish Christmas breakfast to share with them. The four daughters Jo (Soarise Ronan), Meg (Emily Watson), Beth (Eliza Scanlen) and Amy (Florence Pugh) are adorable. They act out Jo’s plays for orphans when they’re not hugging and loving each other.
This family is so sweet, they make maple syrup taste bitter and could cause a diabetic hyperglycemic reaction. When Auntie March (Meryl Streep) has a rip, it’s a relief there’s one character with a touch of nastiness about her.
Even their neighbour, Mr Laurence (Chris Cooper) sends over Christmas dinner when he sees how generous they are. This introduces John (James Norton) who is tutoring his nephew, and Laurie (Timothée Chalet), who’s a bit of a rapscallion. He gets drunk occasionally, the naughty boy.
The story follows the March family, intertwined with the men across the way. Jo yearns to be a writer, Eliza wants to play the piano and Amy wants to be an artist, but women aren’t supposed to rise above their station. They’re supposed to find happiness in marriage like Meg.
This is a story of domestic joys and it makes no apologies for it. I don’t hanker for a time when women overdressed ridiculously, gossip was currency, marriage determined fate and they danced with the passion of an overladen coat stand. It was all so pompous.
I saw this film after watching Bombshell – a modern day drama about how men sexually harassed women at Fox news, and how they fought back. And we’ve recently seen a Portrait of a Lady in Fire, a period piece where sexuality is repressed. It explains why Greta Gerwig (Ladybird; Frances Ha) chose to adapt and direct a period piece like this. Its themes are just as relevant today. But I do question her choice.
I do have to respect what Gerwig has done with Louisa May Alcott’s original novels – which told the story in two parts. Instead of a straight copy, she has intertwined the two tales, and structured this as the second novel, with flashbacks to the first. Gerwig has played with the endings and turns this into a novel with a film, so there is some question over the true ending, which I won’t spoil with any further comment.
While I’m not a fan of this genre, there are few faults in this movie. The acting is faultless and Soarise Ronan is excellent as the lead. Florence Pugh also brings empathy and understanding to her character. The 2.5 hours passed easily ad the audience applauded.
But I found Chalet’s character irritating and when Dern says “I’m angry really every day of my life, but for 40 years I try not to let it get the best of me” I am totally unconvinced. She doesn’t have an angry hair on her body.
This one is purely for fans and they can add another rating to mine. But they’ll have already seen this. I just think if we want to tackle these issues, the more modern angles taken by other films are more powerful. I didn’t think ‘Metoo’ was about pining for these good ol’ days.
Con Nats, On The Screen
