Film: Lady Bird

Director: Greta Gerwig

Cast: Saoirse Ronan, Laurie Metcalf, Tracy Letts, Lucas Hedges, Timothee Chalamet, Beanie Feldstein

 Rating: ***

Lady Bird, a directorial debut of Greta Gerwig, unequivocally deserves to be one of the nominated films for the Oscars 2018. The director has finely narrated a known and relatable saga of a mother-daughter relationship. Now, a question that arises is what is new and different about it? Well, nothing but an amazing portrayal of a mother’s relationship with her daughter.

The intriguing name of the film is the first thing to hook the viewers and the next is Saoirse Ronan’s character. Christine McPherson played by Saoirse is a rebellious, ambitious, stubborn and unyielding teenager, like all other kids at that phase. She likes to be called by the name Lady Bird and makes it clear how she wants herself to be known. Christine establishes it as she urges “I have given myself (the name Lady Bird), given to me by me.”

Lady Bird in her adolescence is troublesome for her mother who has a strong character like her daughter but surely opposite to her. Marion (Laurie Metcalf) Lady Bird’s mother, who wants her daughter to be the best version of herself, somehow disappoints her daughter. On the other side, Christine has a constant feeling of failing her mother’s expectations. Every teenager goes through a phase where they feel a need to prove themselves to everybody and in the process get lost in others expectations. Lady Bird goes through the same — struggles of a daughter who is not perfect, troubled love life and the chase to achieve something in life.

Christine’s family goes through a difficult financial phase. She thinks that she lives on the ‘wrong side of the track’ and pretends to be someone else to fit in.

However, Lady Bird is ambitious and has her eyes on getting into a university that has culture. She aspires to leave California and live in New York “where writers live in the woods.”

Watch the mother-daughter comedy-drama to find out if Lady Bird could pull herself up and achieve what she wants. Does her mother embrace her daughter as she is?

Lady Bird is an emotional journey of a teenager dealing with the phase and emerging as a survivor.