When we first meet Jo March in director Greta Gerwig’s adaptation of Little Women, she is standing outside the door of a newspaper office in New York as an adult, pausing to take a deep breath before entering, as she prepares to sell her first story to the editor.
The most surprising performance comes from Florence Pugh, who portrays youngest sister Amy. In earlier adaptations and in the novel, she has typically been portrayed as a spoiled and vain child—from here Pugh transforms her into a smart and practical woman as an adult, who is almost similar to Ronan’s Jo in how deeply she feels the limitations placed on her as a woman. Unlike Jo, who rebels by maintaining her independence and imagination, Pugh’s Amy takes a more calculated and practical approach to life, seeing marriage, like Jo, as an economic proposition but also as her only option for security. In one of her most striking lines in the film, Pugh says sarcastically, “I will become an ornament to society,” revealing that even the youngest March is well aware of the expected role of women.
Dir. Greta Gerwig. PG, 134 min. Opens 12/25. In wide release, including Davis Theater and Music Box Theatre
