Stats
Title: Little Woman
Year released: December 21, 1994
Directed by: Gillian Armstrong
Notable Cast: Winona Ryder, Christian Bale, Claire Danes
Available to Stream: Prime Video
Synopsis
In this 1994 adaptation of Louisa May Alcott’s classic, the March sisters confront growing pains, financial shortages, family tragedies and romantic rivalries in mid-19th-century Massachusetts. Jo (Winona Ryder) struggles for independence and sometimes clashes with her beloved mother and her sisters Meg, Amy and Beth. She also contends with their cranky Aunt March, their impulsive neighbor Laurie (Christian Bale) and kindly linguistics professor Friedrich Bhaer (Gabriel Byrne).
Review
This movie was a staple with me before my wife and I made it a holiday staple. A long time ago in a life far far away I was studying to be a English Literature teacher. And I was always on the lookout for good film adaptations.
I never read the novel but fell in love with the story from this version. There was a wave of independently minded young women characters in the books of the late 1800’s to the turn of the century from north american authors Lucy Maud Montgomery, Laura Ingalls Wilder Eleanor H. Porter, and Louisa May Alcott.
Winona Ryder plays Jo who bristles at the conventions strapped on the young women of her time. I wondered while watching this year how Winona was able to be cast as idiosyncratic characters early in her career. She was never forced or refused to be forced into Hollywood’s beauty trap. The march daughters are helmed by their Marmie (the luminous Susan Sarandon) as their father is away in the Civil War. The Thomas Newman score is also wonderful
If you’re a Jane Austen fan this story shares the hardships that are in Sense and Sensibility.