With five major nominations at the upcoming Academy Awards, Lady Bird is the first director of actress Greta Gerwig (Frances Ha) worn by the young and promising Saoirse Ronan (The Wandering Souls). With nominations in the categories Best Picture, Best Actress, Best Original Screenplay and Best Director, Lady Bird has its chances as the film paints a simple America in perdition.
A feminine Boyhood
Greta Gerwig's film is a beautiful life lesson, a sensitive and spontaneous work that wants to bring back to the forefront the lost simplicity of an outdated America. Like Boyhood, Gerwig's film attempts to portray an American youth that does not find its place, that is not in tune with the aspirations of an immense and ever-changing nation. Very intelligent, Lady Bird draws up an observation without judgment, with objectivity, and takes the arguments of the different parties.
Saoirse Ronan is endearing, in the shoes of a rebellious but malignant teenager who discovers her sexuality, the pangs of life in society and the harsh reality of work. In the tradition of a strong female character like Juno, the actress shines by her accuracy of play and by her extroverted and spontaneous madness. The film is in the image of this young woman: spontaneous, paradoxical, hesitant, sometimes irritating, often touching. Lady Bird distills a certain invigorating vitality, a message of simplicity, mutual aid and independence that warms the heart. But Lady Bird seeks above all to highlight a family and simple America that is gradually disappearing.
Lady Bird has her heart on her hand
Thanks to its diverse characters and exciting social issues, Lady Bird is a human, sensitive and touching film. Heart on hand, Greta Gerwig paints the portrait of several endearing characters. Besides the main protagonist Christine, her mother, father, brother and boyfriends are exciting appearances. A strong mother, a true fighter, who tries to find the right balance between kindness and severity, ready to give everything for her family, confronted with the arrogance of a teenager in the midst of an existential crisis. With great finesse, without ever falling into pathos, the budding filmmaker draws up a hackneyed but yet endearing relationship between a mother and her daughter. Laurie Metcalf is also convincing in her role, and is nominated for Best Actress in a Supporting Role. This is the strength of Lady Bird, never falling into pathos and talking about a reality with finesse.
By placing her work in the aftermath of September 11, Greta Gerwig wants to confront her protagonists with their fears, the societal, professional and religious changes that are taking place. The filmmaker seeks to find the right balance between traditionalism and evolution, especially in her approach to religion, somewhere between criticism and respect. In a difficult professional context, her father and brother have no jobs, Christine seeks to escape and study in New York. By choosing Sacramento as her pied-à-terre, Greta Gerwig wants to oppose the countryside and the city, to remind us that extra-urban inhabitants are neglected, forgotten and discredited, but that it is nevertheless at home that feelings are expressed, it is at home that simplicity takes on its meaning. In her superb conclusion, full of emotion, Greta Gerwig reminds us that it is first and foremost our origins that define us, and that sometimes simplicity is better than success.
Lady Bird is a sensitive film, which seeks to return to a lost simplicity. Saoirse Ronan is perfect and Greta Gerwig's first film is worth seeing.
