How did Greta Gerwig endear herself to a generation with ‘Lady Bird’?
Just three films into her solo directorial career, Greta Gerwig has already claimed the record for the highest-grossing film helmed by a woman with Barbie. A milestone in marketing, the director’s first foray into the realm of blockbusters is worlds away from her indie roots. Nonetheless, the film’s universal appeal is partly down to the groundwork Gerwig laid with Lady Bird and Little Women. The harsh, hot pink commercialism of Barbie was softened to indie cinema fans by Gerwig’s involvement behind the scenes – but how did she endear herself to them in the first place?
Gerwig’s 2017 solo directorial debut, Lady Bird, was a Sacramento-based coming-of-age story that was equal parts soft and snark. Starring Saoirse Ronan as the title character, Christine ‘Lady Bird’ McPherson, Laurie Metcalf as her mother and Timothée Chalamet as her failed love interest, the film follows Lady Bird as she navigates female friendships, college applications, religion, her first-time, and her ever-complicated relationship with her mother. On the surface, it’s an average coming-of-age story – so how did Gerwig make it mean so much more to so many viewers?
The truth is, with Lady Bird, Gerwig did everything right. From releasing with cult production and distribution company A24 to casting the magical pairing of Ronan and Chalamet, Lady Bird was primed for success in indie circles. Ronan and Chalamet have proven their chemistry again since, starring in Gerwig’s Little Women. The two actors are now staples in the indie cinema landscape, beloved by online film circles and award seasons alike.
Outside of the film’s production elements, Gerwig’s scripts are an integral piece of her intimate, charming storytelling. Lady Bird was based on elements of her own experience, but it is a universal story. From Lady Bird’s awful first time to her conflicting feelings towards her hometown and her family, the film encapsulates all of the embarrassments, complexities, disillusions, and frustrations of young womanhood.
The unlikeable elements of Lady Bird’s character make this all the more potent. It’s rare to see a woman on screen depicted in all of her messy, imperfect, chaotic glory, particularly one so young. She’s insufferably arrogant, she shouts at her mother and her best friend, and she has acne, an element of her character Ronan insisted on. She makes countless mistakes, and yet we forgive her. Because they’re mistakes we’ve all made, experiences we’ve all had – it’s a film that’s full of truth and celebrates it.
This is enhanced by Gerwig’s filmmaking and cinematography. Sam Levy, the cinematographer, told The Film Stage that Gerwig had stated, “I want this to look like a memory”. Consequently, before they began shooting, Gerwig, Levy, and the cast looked through photographs from 2000s Sacramento. Gerwig even took her team on a tour of her hometown and showed them her own photos and journals from her youth.
Videos of Gerwig on set show just how actively involved in the process she is, laughing and running along with her actors and encouraging them at every opportunity. It’s a love of film that translates so earnestly on screen. The film feels warm, nostalgic and intimate in every shot, like looking through family photo books or home videos. The sheer amount of truth and enthusiasm Gerwig inserts into her filmmaking is palpable and makes her stories feel at once deeply personal and universal.
The film’s ending moments encapsulate this mood. As we eavesdrop on Lady Bird’s voicemail to her mother, shots of a tear-stained Ronan are interspersed with clips of both her and her mother driving through Sacramento. She asks: “Did you feel emotional the first time that you drove in Sacramento? I did, and I wanted to tell you but we weren’t really talking when it happened. All those bends I’ve known my whole life and stores, and the whole thing. I wanted to tell you, I love you. Thank you. I’m…thank you.”
Accompanied by a twinkling, moving score by Jon Brion, the scene is so specific to Lady Bird’s life in Sacramento, but it captures a feeling we’ve all experienced as we grow up and leave our hometown – the realisation of how intimately you know those streets, and the simultaneous love and hate you feel towards them. Her stuttered declarations of thanks and love to her mother are far bigger than they might seem, too.
Intimate and warm, with all the flaws and failures of everyday life, Lady Bird was so beloved by audiences for its genuine portrait of womanhood and coming-of-age. Suddenly, Gerwig found herself with an entire generation of film fans waiting with bated breath for her next offering. In each film since then, she has stayed true to her storytelling roots – even her $100+ million-budget Barbie film retains a commitment to authenticity, a pure love for filmmaking and a focus on mother-daughter relationships. It even threw in a reference to Pavement for good measure.
Gerwig’s filmography is set apart from her peers because it’s permeated with love – for women, for Sacramento, for filmmaking, and for truth.
