Little Women is at least the seventh adaptation of the novel by Louisa May Alcott, this time adapted and directed by Greta Gerwig, primarily starring Saoirse Ronan, Emma Watson, and Florence Pugh. The film follows four sisters across a portion of their lives in Civil War-era America, dealing each with their own transitions from childhood to adulthood. Of course, by 19th century standards this means finding a husband and having a family by the ripe age of 20.
Straight off the bat, this is a movie I can confidently say I enjoyed. It’s a competently, if not expertly, made movie with excellent production and costume design as well as great acting pretty much across the board. However, as some may have guessed, this is not a movie that I have much in common with and for that I feel like its merits were wasted on me. Simply: it’s not my cup of tea.
Personal taste aside, my biggest complaint with the movie was some inconsistency in dialogue delivery. Having never read the source material, I assume most of the dialogue is fairly faithful at least to the spirit of the novel. By this I mean that its a very heightened and snappy dialogue one might associate with period pieces of the ilk. For the most part, it flows nicely and the cast makes it sound very naturally. But occasionally, and I felt this most with Florence Pugh and Emma Watson, the dialogue comes off as very stilted and harsh. For lack of a better way to put this, it’s like I could feel them acting whereas Saoirse Ronan and the rest of the cast did a better job of selling their words as their own.
Beyond that, I don’t really have much else to say. It’s a good movie, but you’re more or less going to get what you expect.
8