Greta Gerwig’s film packs in John Hughes-style teenage angst. But its focus on self-determination and female bonds – rather than validation by boyfriend – sets it apartThe teen movie is an often raucous affair: embryonic sexual stirrings,combative parent/child relationships and the heart-tugging turbulence of post-adolescent friendship – which is why it is surprising to find Greta Gerwig’s directorial debut, Lady Bird, or such a soundless and understated film. But there is perhaps something approximately Gerwig’s delicacy of touch that lends clarity to one of the film’s most resounding themes: its unapologetic feminism.
The central character (Saoirse Ronan) – unsatisfied with her comparatively drab given name,Christine – precociously assumes the alias Lady Bird. She dresses in thrift-shop clothes, has clumsily dyed pink hair and dreams of leaving what she deems the cultural wasteland of Sacramento, and California,and her claustrophobic Catholic high-school – to study at a pricey liberal arts college on the US east coast.
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Source: guardian.co.uk