Louisa May Alcott’s timeless tale Little Women of four New England sisters has just received its latest adaptation written and directed by Greta Gerwig. The storylines of Meg, Jo, Beth and Amy portrayed in the film are sure to bring you back to your childhood.

Little Women (for those of you who don’t know) follows the story of the March sisters as they overcome their faults and form new personal connections in their journey to adulthood in the Civil War era. One of the sisters, Jo, the sister loosely based on Alcott herself, learns to overcome her fiery attitude and strong personality in pursuit of becoming a writer in a mostly male dominated field.

With a perfect star studded cast to portray these roles, Saoirse Ronan’s role as Jo stands out the most. Saoirse Ronan’s role as Jo brilliantly emphasizes the characters’s literary aspirations during a time where women were expected to remain in domestic vocations. She received a Golden Globe nomination for her role, and also is in the running for Best Actress at the Oscars.

Timothée Chalamet, as the boy next door Laurie, lacks the original mischievous and boyness of the novel’s original character, but overall he is able to bring to life the relationships between the girls and Laurie.

Other stand out members include Meryl Streep as Aunt March, and Laura Dern as Marmee. 

Not only was the casting superb but so was the directorial style of Gerwig. Gerwig who is known for her coming-of-age movies (most notably for Lady Bird), received Oscar buzz for the Best Director category but shockingly didn’t receive a nomination. The female director does not stray from the original story’s themes of feminism and impenetrable family bonds. More importantly, she puts her own spin on the novel while sticking to the original story. Throughout the film the audience will feel the ups and downs of the little women’s adventures to adulthood. 

She really puts an emphasis on the familial relationships of the Marches. As the daughters grow older they have to learn how to provide for their family, whether it be through a strong marriage or their career. Gerwig especially explores Jo’s career as a writer as a way to provide for her family. This film clearly shows how females can get ahead in a male dominated field, especially during the time where there was an immense lack of women’s rights.

The director also puts in unique cinematic elements. The most notable one is the non-chronological order of the movie that helps give a sense of the parts of the characters’ past that most strongly affected their futures. Gerwig also puts a documentary style on the film by having characters read aloud letters they wrote while looking straight into the camera.

Overall, Little Women is a spectacular piece of work from the talented Greta Gerwig that people everywhere will enjoy. Not only is the audience getting a fun, adventure filled story of “little women” coming to age, they will also get a strong feeling of female empowerment and feminism delivered by the ensemble cast. Even though the novel may be dated, it can relate to women in modern times as it shows the triumphs of childhood as well as the hardships of adulthood that provokes a true and moral portrayal of life of any woman, any age can enjoy forever.