Although “The Shape of Water” won Best Picture at the Academy Awards on March 4, “Lady Bird,” to myself and many others, was the true Best Picture this year. While there were certainly more conceptual movies or movies that were more dramatic or more historical, none matched the quiet power that “Lady Bird” provided. So rarely are stories by women and about women presented on our movie screens, and Lady Bird was a perfect example of the need for those stories.
Written and directed by Greta Gerwig, “Lady Bird” tells the story of Christine “Lady Bird” McPherson’s senior year of high school in Sacramento, California as she struggles with many aspects of her life: the school play, college applications, her love life and most importantly her relationship with her mother. Seeing Lady Bird mature in front of your eyes, watching her as she realizes important things about herself and her life is one of the many innate joys of the movie.
Lady Bird’s family struggles economically, and she is unsure of how she will afford college. This is complicated by the fact that she doesn’t want to stay in Sacramento, where she grew up, and would rather attend school on the East Coast, far away from in-state tuition.
The scenes where Lady Bird stresses about affording school while also wanting to leave hit home. I would not be at St. Joe’s without a very generous scholarship, and I desperately wanted to leave the Midwest. I cannot remember the last time I saw a character in a relatively light-hearted movie openly think about not being able to afford college, which is a reality for many high school students in this country.
The film’s focus on women and female relationships that many movies so often ignore is equally important. The main relationships in this movie are between Lady Bird and her mother Marion, and Lady Bird and her best friend Julie.
Without spoiling too much of the plot, the final scene, where Lady Bird addresses her mom and apologizes, was one of the most impactful few minutes of cinema that I have ever witnessed.
I saw “Lady Bird” with my mother and it was an emotional experience for both of us, resonating on a level that no movie nominated for Best Picture did. We both cried in the movie theater, and it was a beautiful bonding experience that I will cherish for the rest of my life.
While other movies this year had bigger budgets and more action sequences, none grabbed me as much as Lady Bird. It was introspective, relatable to a painful degree, and overall the movie was just honest, human, and good. Lady Bird’s ability to resonate with everyone from my mom to me, her son, shows how powerful it can be to tell stories that aren’t told so often.
“Lady Bird” was a treat to experience because it depicted a life that people live, with characters we know and dialogue we might actually speak ourselves. Especially for women who saw “Lady Bird,” this movie spoke to the intricacies of their lives that don’t often appear in films. It might not have won Best Picture on March 4, but I know for a fact that “Lady Bird” will be remembered far beyond the 90th Academy Awards.
