Laura DernРІР‚в„ўs Marmee raises her girls in a magpie stash of bohemian jumble, punctuated with impromptu midnight baking sessions and amateur dramatics. But the design departments, both in the interiors and the costumes, excel. ThereРІР‚в„ўs an uninhibited verve here that evokes Joe WrightРІР‚в„ўs Pride & Prejudice.Р”Р„lexandre DesplatРІР‚в„ўs unremarkable mulch of a score РІР‚вЂњ one of the filmРІР‚в„ўs few weak points РІР‚вЂњ does little more than provide decorative wallpaper for the bustle of family life. GerwigРІР‚в„ўs masterstroke is to take the dialogue as it was written by Alcott but to have her actors deliver the lines in a tumbling clutter of ideas and mass hilarity. More than Emma WatsonРІР‚в„ўs decorative, dull Meg and Eliza ScanlenРІР‚в„ўs sickly, reticent Beth, our eyes are drawn to PughРІР‚в„ўs mercurial Amy.Р”Р„nd itРІР‚в„ўs in these chaotic rooms in the March family home that the film derives its giddy energy. Yorick Le SauxРІР‚в„ўs camera clearly feels the same way РІР‚вЂњ it is constantly sneaking smitten glances at Amy across crowded rooms. Her burgeoning relationship with Laurie ( TimothР“В©e Chalamet, adorable) is teasingly persuasive: PughРІР‚в„ўs velvet and honey voice has never been better used. At times, it seems as though this is as much AmyРІР‚в„ўs story as JoРІР‚в„ўs.

The brightest, most talented, most headstrong of the girls, and given to unleashing rollicking hoots of laughter at each otherРІР‚в„ўs misfortune, they clash because their kinship is closer than they care to admit. While other versions of the story have painted her as bratty and spoiled, here Amy and Jo are two sides of the same coin. In addition to Alcott, the main beneficiary of GerwigРІР‚в„ўs inclusive approach is the youngest March sister, Amy (a magnificent Florence Pugh РІР‚вЂњ what a year she has had!). That said, by casting Louis Garrel as Friedrich Bhaer, Gerwig ensures that Jo is not exactly short-changed in the husband department. Gerwig acknowledges the commercial pressure to marry off a fictional female character, and argues that the real happy ending is the publishing of JoРІР‚в„ўs book. Perhaps most satisfying is a deftly meta scene that addresses the point at which AlcottРІР‚в„ўs life РІР‚вЂњ she remained unmarried РІР‚вЂњ and JoРІР‚в„ўs (wed to an older professor) diverge. Gerwig draws on the geography of the region: the vividly exuberant New England autumn colour palette flushes through the childhood scenes the modest gentility of AlcottРІР‚в„ўs own childhood home is recreated for the March family residence. The film is shot in and around Concord, Massachusetts, where Alcott and her family lived.

Photograph: Allstar/Columbia PicturesР”Р„lcott is inevitably present in any adaptation of Little Women but Gerwig digs deeper, into the novelistРІР‚в„ўs own history. OutstandingРІР‚В¦ Saoirse Ronan and TimothР“В©e Chalamet in Little Women. But it is the generosity of GerwigРІР‚в„ўs affections, drawing the other members of the family, and Alcott herself, into the warm embrace of the film, that makes it such a joyous, tumultuous collision of pleasures. It was her love affair with Jo as a character that prompted Gerwig to embark on this, the latest interpretation of a book that has already been adapted for the screen, stage, television, opera and anime about 20 times.

AlcottРІР‚в„ўs alter ego, Jo hits that elusive sweet spot that makes her perennially relatable and contemporary. Wildly imaginative, unfashionably ambitious and mutinously ungroomed, she has been the formative girl-crush for generations of wannabe writers with inky fingers and unravelling pigtails. SheРІР‚в„ўs passionately captured here by Saoirse Ronan, who reunites with Gerwig after starring in her directorial debut, Lady Bird (a film that, with its focus on mother-daughter relationships, female friendship and creative ambition, contains a notable thematic crossover with Little Women). ThereРІР‚в„ўs a reason why Little Women, in print continuously since its first volume was published in 1868, has been such an enduring phenomenon, and that is Jo March. Along with Armando IannucciРІР‚в„ўs archly playful take on David Copperfield, this is the freshest, most light-footed literary adaptation of the past year. By encouraging a merry chaos of overlapping personalities and performances РІР‚вЂњ restructuring the timeline into a multilayered playground where the child and adult stories interact РІР‚вЂњ and subtly foregrounding existing themes of female fulfilment and the economics of creativity, Gerwig creates something that is true to its roots and bracingly current.

Gerwig is respectful of the source material РІР‚вЂњ much of the dialogue is lifted from Louisa May AlcottРІР‚в„ўs beloved book РІР‚вЂњ while ensuring that her own creative input is heard. Greta GerwigРІР‚в„ўs jostling, clamouring adaptation of Little Women is a rare achievement. O ne-hundred-and-fifty-year-old literature never felt so alive.

Little women 2019