A GOLDEN STATE
by
Douglas Messerli
Written
and directed by Greta Gerwig Lady Bird /
2017
Our
dear friend, Diana Daves, who grew up in Sacramento, insisted, the last time we
chatted, that we should see Greta Gerwig’s new film Lady Bird, and Howard, who takes in far more current films than I
do, quickly took her advice; a few weeks after, on New Year’s Day, he dragged
me along to see it again. I’m glad he did.
This is a gentle film simply about a
young high school senior trying to live out her last year in an all-girl’s
Catholic school; it’s a story any young girl—or boy for that matter—might have
experienced, a painful time between complete independence and the dependencies that
parents who still see you only as a child demand of their almost grown-up
offspring. It’s a time of daring social and sexual experimentation (the same
issues were at the heart of Luca Guadagnino’s recent Call Me By Your Name, only from the male view). And it’s a time
when one is never more aware of the “slings and arrows” of the world about
them.
It’s also a year that is nearly unbearable
for parents, not only because of their desire to still protect their
increasingly rebellious children, but because of the deep sense of their
impending loss. For today’s parents, moreover, it’s a period of desperation for
most families not only to find a college or university for their child, but have
to come up with the money to pay for it. People of my generation did not truly
comprehend how good they had it; I worked paper routes for years and was able
to pay most of my excellent State University education at the University of
Wisconsin by myself! Today, it’s nearly unthinkable that a teenager might be
able to earn enough to cover even a fraction of the costs.
And the McPherson family, (father played
by Tracy Letts and mother by the amazing actress, Laurie Metcalf), have little
money to help, the father having just lost his job and the mother working often
twice-a-day shifts as a nurse-counselor. Their poverty and inability to live on
“right side of the tracks” is something that not only has embittered the mother,
Marion, but helped create further strains for their daughter, the self-named
Lady Bird (nothing to do with Lady Bird Johnson), real name Christine (Saoirse
Ronan), with her fellow students, some of who come from wealthy families, and,
like most teenage girls, gather into clusters often centered around family
income and social status.
Lady Bird has a wonderful friend in the
somewhat plump Julie (the incredibly talented Beanie Feldstein), but both would
like more fashionable friends as well. And then, there’s the issue of boys.
Fortunately, one of the priests is organizing a production of Stephen Sondheim’s
Merrily We Roll Along—a rather brave
undertaking, I might add, for a Catholic school—and boys from a local all-male
Catholic institutions have also been encouraged to audition. There are enough
roles in this musical that almost everyone who tries out gets a part, but Julie
gets a plumb lead-role, while Lady Bird only nabs a chorus part. Yet, one of
the other leads, Danny O’Neill (Lucas Hedges) immediately steals Lady Bird’s
heart. Given his youthful good looks and talent, we can well understand why.
There are clues, however, that a naïf like Lady Bird—as tough as she pretends
to be—simply can’t interpret. The two get along remarkably well, beginning with
some serious smooching; she even declares that he might touch her “boobs,” he,
as all good boys might, staying that he respects her too much to do that in their
still early relationship. I suppose, at that same age, I told a girl I was
dating the very same thing. Of course, Danny’s gay, as Lady Bird soon discovers,
a devastation to her as it is also to the not yet fully-out Danny.
For all of these small and inevitable
hurts, however, the deepest problem that Lady Bird must face is the open
hostility between her and her mother. It’s not that Marion McPherson doesn’t
love her; she’s a more than decent woman, having even adopted, or at least
excepted into her home, a slightly older Latino boy along with his girl-friend.
It’s just that, she, even more than her husband whom she describes as “depressed,”
is desperately disappointed with life. Indeed, there are a great many depressed
people in this film, including the play-producing Father Leviatch (Stephen
Henderson). And Lady Bird’s mother, not so very different from Frances
McDormand’s character in Three Billboards
Outside of Ebbing, Missouri, vents her frustrations quite openly, carrying
a kind of personal grudge expressed by her demands for her daughter’s personal
grooming, her treatment of clothes, and other rebellious behavioral attitudes.
When Marion discovers the fact, it
appears that all communication has broken down between the two and a rift has
occurred even between the normally loving mother and father. Still darker
issues are approached when, applying for a tech job from which he is turned down
because of his age, the father discovers his own “adopted” son applying for the
same job; the younger man is hired.
You might think, given my descriptions of
the plot above, that Gerwig’s work is something closer to a family tragedy than
a golden-colored memory book of family at a difficult moment in their lives.
But it isn’t at all a dark work, partly because it is a true valentine to the
city of its location, Sacramento, and, simultaneously, every single figure in
this film is truly human and well-meaning at heart. Even the most minor parts
come alive with moments of startling insight, as when the nun who Lady Bird
perceives as torturing her, suggests that the young girl’s writing hints at a
deep love of the city in which she lives. Or when, after meanly snapping about
her daughter’s choice for a prom dress as being “too pink,” the mother bites
her tongue in deep regret, knowing just how much she has hurt the one she so
desperately loves. Larry McPherson suggests he and his daughter “celebrate” his
job rejection with a bag of Fritos. Danny returns to the girl he has hurt,
begging for her to keep his being gay quiet and tearfully asking for
forgiveness; even Kyle spouts concerns about climate change and human waste.
There is simply not an evil being in this motion picture. And director Gerwig is
so remarkable in both her writing and visual telling of her story, that she has
become a force worth watching. We need more of her quiet and positive insights.
Even the rebellious daughter, after a
drunken night which lands her in the hospital, calls home to share with her
mother a small previous excitement, after finally obtaining her license to
drive, of her first solo car trip through Sacramento. Even though she is now
far-away in New York, she has returned home to claim her original name.
Los Angeles, January 2, 2018
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As a fan of Ms. Gerwig's mumblecore performances, I was not surprised when I thoroughly enjoyed this beautiful, gentle, honest film. It is as much of an ode to a hometown as it is a remembrance of the emotional ups and downs of late adolescence. Written from the depths of experience, the truth on display is what some who did not like film may find off-putting. However, it is Ms. Gerwig's courage to put the truth front and center that makes this a masterpiece film. This is the kind of writing and directing that one would expect from a mature filmmaker at the peak of her directing career, not as her debut. As an actress, Ms. Gerwig has earned her "shot" at being given the opportunity to direct. Let's hope that she will continue to be respected for her vision and dedication to excellence in storytelling.
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