Christine (or “Lady Bird” as she prefers to call herself), brilliantly played by Saoirse Ronan, is an artistically inclined 17 year-old in her last year a Catholic school with has dreams of a different life of cosmopolitan culture, Ivy League universities on the East Coast and her own self-importance (of course!). Her mother Marion, equally brilliantly played by Laurie Metcalf, is a nurse working double shifts to keep her family afloat (her husband’s just lost his job).
So, confused, precocious teenager with lofty aspirations, falling in and out of love, trying to balance friendship and popularity (and frequently failing)… and trying to be true to herself. Mother attempting to manage her daughter’s expectations and, annoyingly/frustratingly, regularly ‘getting it wrong’ (telling Lady Bird that she has ideas above her station, telling her how expensive it’s been to raise her… and, of course, criticising her lack of tidiness and her dress sense etc etc).
You get the general idea…
Lots of the film’s other characters are excellent too – I particularly liked ‘best friend’ Julie (played by Beanie Feldstein)… and I came away feeling that I needed to watch the film again in order to pick up all the nuances and to appreciate some of the ‘secondary’ performances and characters a little more.
It’s a film about growing up, about relationships and about the things that shape our lives… about how teenagers perhaps can’t imagine the emotional lives of their parents and about the difficulties and sense of loss for some parents when their children leave home.
I thought it was a really lovely, frequently funny, sometimes sad (often predictably uncomfortable), very enjoyable, coming of age film… you need to see it.
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