Honestly, the real reason I originally wanted to see Greta Gerwig’s Little Women was because I wanted to see Timothée Chalamet play Laurie Laurence. So, I really only wanted to watch it because I love Timothée Chalamet. Which is incredibly ironic, as the story’s main character is Jo March (played by Saoirse Ronan), a young girl during Civil War times who refuses to fall in love or make the “economic proposition” of marrying a man. Besides Jo, the movie also shows the lives of her three sisters: Meg (Emma Watson), Amy (Florence Pugh), and Beth (Eliza Scanlen). All three of them are vastly different, and there are lasting themes in the movie that are still important today, like dealing with grief, the love of family, war, and most prevalently, women’s rights.

The way that Gerwig chooses to show their life and touch on each of these subjects is interesting and impactful. The movie switches back and forth between the present and the past, some 7 years before. The switching between the two plots was a little confusing at first, to be honest. The actors play both the young and grown up versions of the characters, so you couldn’t tell by their overall looks alone, but the delivery gave it away. For scenes that took place in the past, everything felt happy and warm. When the girls were younger and all lived in the house together, it was full of playful bickering, laughter, and dreaming about their futures. Then suddenly it would cut to where they really were in the future – and the house was empty, cold, and adult life was proving to be more difficult than they’d imagined. Seeing the stark difference was like being hit in the face by a gust of freezing wind. I really felt for the girls, and I felt the nostalgia and pain they felt as well.

One of the most impactful uses Gerwig made of the plot switches was when Beth died. She had come down with a fever, which was deadly during the Civil War without medicine. It first showed the past, as Beth had gotten a similar fever before. Jo was taking care of her younger sister, and I remember that even though she was sick, there was some hope to it. The candle light gave a warmth to the scene, and the young girls knew they could get through it as long as they were together. It showed the next day, when Jo mistakenly thought her sister had died during the night, until she came downstairs and Beth was there, feeling better. The same cannot be said for what happens in the future. There is no warmth or hope to the scene at all, almost like they knew Beth wasn’t going to make it. There’s a parallel when Jo wakes up again and notices Beth is gone, like in the past. However, when she goes downstairs and looks for Beth, the house is empty and silent. You know that she’s dead before anything is said, and it’s upsetting, but a smart way for Gerwig to make viewers really feel something. It’s like you felt that little rise of hope that Jo did when she ran down the stairs for her sister, and you felt it crash down twice as hard when she’s gone.

It was also easy to tell the differences in time by their makeup and dresses, which were both done well. Although subtle, their makeup in the past made them look younger, as it was less refined and full of rosy cheeks. When they were older, their makeup was done more precisely, and they made their faces look sharper and smoother. As grown women, they wore completely different types of clothing, of course. Their dresses were also cleaner and fit their individual personalities more – Meg with something simple, Jo with a dark color, Amy with extravagance, and Beth also with something simple and light. When they were younger, it was more of whatever they could throw together for themselves. For example, Jo had a burned dress and lemonade stained gloves to wear to a New Year’s party.

Another small thing that stood out was the script and the way lines from the book were used. I haven’t finished the book, but I remembered when some lines were from parts that I had read. The only difference between them was that they were usually tweaked to sound a little bit more modern. It definitely still stuck to how people would have spoken some 160 years ago, but it wasn’t hard to follow what was going on. The only issue I had with the way the script was delivered was that sometimes it was too quick when it shouldn’t have been – almost like the jump cuts between actors speaking were too close together.

Another one of the few things I disliked about the movie were tiny inconsistencies. For example in a scene between Laurie and Amy, Laurie was wearing a blue scarf that wasn’t wrapped around his neck, but was simply thrown over it. Then towards the end of the scene, it was wrapped around Laurie’s neck, but he hadn’t touched it at all. It’s small, but it’s something that reminds you that this is all a movie done by actors on a set and that this story isn’t real. When I watch a movie or show, I want to completely believe it while I’m watching it. Convince me that these little women really did live back then and that this really did happen. But with something as small as that, it’s far too easy to come back to reality.

However, it’s easy to forget about those tiny things when you think about the depth that the movie really has. It shows you how difficult life really was for a woman during the time period, and how her entire life’s work could all be passed off as the work of her husband. It also prioritizes family love more than the romantic type for once, which was incredibly refreshing to see. Overall, Little Women was a movie I would definitely watch again and recommend.