Little Women (2019) * * *

Directed by:  Greta Gerwig

Starring: Saorise Ronan, Emma Watson, Laura Dern, Florence Pugh, Eliza Scanlen, Timothee Chalamet, Laura Dern, Meryl Streep, Chris Cooper, Bob Odenkirk, Tracy Letts

Louisa May Alcott's famed novel has been remade numerous times, including Gillian Armstrong's 1994 version which netted Winona Ryder a Best Actress Oscar nomination.   We now have a remake written and directed by Greta Gerwig, who announced her arrival loudly as a prominent filmmaker with Lady Bird (2017).   What new insights can Gerwig provide with such familiar material?   Plenty, including storytelling steeped in flashbacks and four young women who are allowed to have personalities and thoughts of their own.

It took time to get used to Gerwig's bold attempt to reinvent the story, especially with the utilization of flashbacks.    But then we are swept up in the stories of the March sisters, led by Jo (Ronan), who wants to be a writer, Meg (Watson) who has acting aspirations, Amy (Pugh) who feels she is always second-best to Jo, especially since the object of her affections clearly makes a play for Jo's heart, and Beth (Scanlen), who is frequently ill and would love nothing more than to live long enough to experience the joys and sorrows of young womanhood like her older sisters.

The March sisters are led by their strong, determined mother Marmee (Dern), whose husband is away fighting the Civil War, and family matriarch Aunt Josephine (Streep), who prefers her nieces to follow compulsory tradition and marry rich men.  On the periphery always is Theodore "Laurie" Laurence (Chalamet), a family friend who loves the wild, stubborn Jo and tries in vain to win her heart.    She likes Laurie well enough, and may even love him, but enough to sacrifice her individuality for the sake of marriage?    Amy, who loves Laurie herself, is forever jealous of her older sister.

Little Women's subplots play out closely to previous incarnations, but what makes Gerwig's version better is its spirit.   She has affection for the material and gives her women their true voices, although as Jo learns when attempting to publish her novel, that women in the 19th century had to play ball in the male-dominated world at least somewhat.   We see the first printing of Jo's novel being produced, and Jo stands and watches with satisfaction.   She was able to write her story (except for a shoehorned happy ending forced upon her by her publisher) and achieve her dream.    Can she live with the concession she made?   The smile on her face says everything.

Saorise Ronan, who played the title character in Gerwig's Lady Bird, remains one of the best actors around.    Her Jo is pig-headed, forthright, and honest sometimes to a fault.   She knows who she is and what her place in the world will be, and it won't necessarily be as someone's wife.   But, yet, like all people, she aches from the loneliness she has created for herself.    Ronan's Lady Bird and Jo March are similar in many ways, as well as equally touching.