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Writer's pictureRachita Biswas

Lady Bird: a tale of deliriously defiant dainty youthfulness

Updated: Jul 6, 2022

Whether consciously or subconsciously, many of us present a persona that is a proxy for our genuine self.

There is a gulf between what the proxy self says and what our authentic self means.

As a result, emotions congeal.

Distance, isolation, or uprooting might provide perspective in such a scenario.


Lady Bird is a moving depiction of these feelings.



Lady Bird


Greta Gerwig's directorial debut seems like re-reading an old diary entry through the perspective of concurrent judgment and forgiveness, with an outpouring of love.

It's a female coming-of-age narrative that's both nostalgic and uncompromising, and it'll grip you thoroughly.


Lady Bird is a precocious 17-year-old on the cusp of womanhood.

She merely needs to go through the ups and downs of friendships, first loves, and her relationship with her mother before leaving for college and her life truly begins.



Lady Bird is a bit of an oxymoron: She's cynical and dissatisfied most of the time, yet she puts herself wholeheartedly into the ridiculous earnestness of high school theatre.

She has dyed-pink hair and big black boots and dresses like a punk, but she had to ask her brother who Jim Morrison was.


Lady Bird


And, even though she isn't a particularly bright student—we never see her complete homework—she has lofty goals, such as believing she should be on the competitive maths team despite being basically bad at it.


Her ultimate objective is to leave Sacramento and attend college on the East Coast, but her amorous side prevents her from saying so openly.


Lady Bird's uniqueness lies not in its most original scenes but in its most cliched.



An adolescent girl abandons her famous friends to visit her old best friend.


LADY BIRD

A tearful trip to the airport.


 Lady Bird and her mother, Marion.

A gay adolescent admits to being terrified to come out.


We've seen similar scenes a hundred times before, but filmmaker Greta Gerwig truly adores all of her characters, so the human element is never lost in those moments.

This is especially evident in the relationship between Lady Bird and her mother, Marion.


Because both characters' points of view are portrayed with respect and understanding, every encounter between them becomes one of the best-acted and most affecting scenes in cinema.


LADY BIRD

Many films, usually in a shallow fashion, attempt to remind older audiences of how it feels to be young.

This film reminds us of the genuine trials of adolescence while also offering valuable insight into the difficulties that sometimes parents experience in silence.

Gerwig's distinct skill for building a rich emotional world, particularly for young women, is evident, and you can see, feel, and hear her in every breath and beat of this, her first solo-credit film, which she describes as a love letter to her birthplace.


LADY BIRD

It's excruciatingly funny, exquisitely lovely, exuberant, and uncynical, with great comedy stitched into the details.
The specifics set this apart from your ordinary teen drama, with each scene focusing on a pivotal subject, moral, or event.

The tens, hundreds, thousands of minutes sometimes signify everything, sometimes mean nothing, and most of the time mean nothing at all.


The events that form us into who we are – the definition and clear lines that emerge with adulthood.


The connection between a sensitive girl(ladybird) and a sensible lady (her mother) and their reactions to each other's weaknesses is governed by intricate dynamics.

The film Lady Bird is not about the tale it tells.

It is about experiencing what is unsaid yet intensely felt.

The connection between a sensitive girl(ladybird) and a sensible lady (her mother) and their reactions to each other's weaknesses is governed by intricate dynamics.

LADY BIRDS

Lady Bird speaks to any woman who has ever experienced the love and anguish of strained interactions with her mother.

It will also serve as a source of wisdom for individuals who believe that we cannot have happy relationships with others until we have accepted the emotional reality of life with our parents.


Author: Akash R. Ekka




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