The film Lady Bird (Greta Gerwig, 2017) is a romantic, coming of age film set in Sacramento and based on a girl who wants to pursue her acting career in a major city but is being restrained by her overprotective mother. It is also about how her complicated relationships with her friends and family change.
The film focuses on self-identity and friendships, mostly through the main character of Lady Bird or Christine. It also represents the working class and those who struggle financially. This is portrayed by the main family struggling with money. The contrast between Christine with Danny and Jenna emphasises the struggles that the lower classes face.
The Plot
Lady Bird begins with Christine and her mother driving back from a college trip. They end up having an argument over listening to an audiobook and Christine throws herself out of the car, breaking her arm in the process. It then cuts to Christine in her Catholic school in an assembly. The audience is introduced to a few of the important characters: Julie, Kyle and Danny. The next scene is of Christine in a meeting with one of the teachers who tells her she should stop running for the student council and instead audition for the play. She takes this advice and her and Julie both get a role in the musical. The next part of the film is about how she gets closer to the lead actor, Danny and their relationship together. Whilst they are dating, they go to a concert where we meet Kyle who is in the band. The story progresses until Julie and Christine go into the toilets and see both their boyfriends kissing. Christine then begins to change her personality, become friends with Jenna and start to date Kyle. She later learns that Kyle is a horrible person but still wants to go to prom with him. When she is in the car, the others say they want to skip it and go to a party instead. Lady Bird decides to leave the others and meet Julie. After her graduation, Lady Bird’s mother finds out that Lady Bird is going to a college in New York. Christine tries to turn her life around before she leaves for college. Her dad says goodbye but her mum misses her departure. When Lady Bird arrives in New York, she goes to a party where she meets a boy and they leave to go back to her apartment. However she ends up being sick and going to the hospital. When she wakes up it is Sunday so she goes to Church. Once the session has finished, Lady Bird calls her dad in hopes of her mum hearing the voicemail. She tells her mum how she felt driving to Sacramento the first time and the film ends with Lady Bird telling her mum that she loved her.
Genre
The film is a coming of age film which has the typical romance connotations of a teenage film. This genre is displayed by following a girl through the end of high school and the very beginning of college. She faces problems about not knowing what her future will be and being influenced in her decision. There are also many stereotypical characters. The main character begins with having her shy, reserved and loyal best friend (Julie) but wanting to fit in. There is the popular girl who everyone is jealous of (Jenna) and the cool boy (Kyle) that the main character has a crush on.
Characters
The main family in Lady Bird is Catholic and consists of the depressed but loving father (Larry), the strict and overprotective mother (Marion), the naive and confident daughter whose birth name is Christine but she created the name Lady Bird, the socially-different son (Miguel) and his girlfriend (Shelly). We only see their life from the perspective of Lady Bird.
The Director
Lady Bird is directed by Greta Gerwig, a famous screenwriter and director. She is famous for creating powerful, feminist and inspirational movies. One example is Little Women in 2019 which is a romance/drama film set in the 1860s. It is about a group of women who are transitioning from childhood to womanhood, very similar to Lady Bird. Another example is Barbie, one of the most famous films from 2023. This film very much focuses on sexism and the patriarchy. The common theme in these films is empowering women.
My opinion
I really enjoyed watching this film and would definitely watch it again. I liked the aesthetics of the film and thought it effectively conveys its messages about self-identity and how it can be difficult to discover who you truly are.