(If you have never read the novel Little Women or if you have read the novel but have not seen the latest film version of it and you plan to do so, skip this post.)
As a grade school girl, I devoured the novel Little Women, written in 1868 by Louisa May Alcott, a Massachusetts author. I loved many books with four children as the central characters, connecting them with the four children in my own family. In high school I visited Concord, Massachusetts and saw her home, Orchard House, where she wrote the novel. I watched both the 1949 film adaptation of the novel and the 1994 version. As an adult scholar of women’s literature, I learned a great deal about Louisa May Alcott herself. As I did so, I became aware of her need to make money by writing the novel and her preference for her other writing over this book.
Then last week I finally made it to the theater to watch the 2019 film directed by Greta Gerwig. My granddaughter, who had seen the trailer, had no interest in the remake. She told me that she disliked the way the movie seemed to go back and forth in time which she found confusing. It turns out that she was on to something.
The film somehow conflates the story line of the novel with the real life experience of Alcott as a writer. As it goes back and forth from the time the novel is ready for publication to ten years earlier in the fictional home of the girls, it makes no clear distinction between the life of Alcott and the character of Jo. Sometimes it is Alcott who is urged to make the novel have a happy ending. Sometimes it is Jo who is given a happy ending. The blurring between the novel as fiction and as autobiography confused me, even though I am clear which is which in reality.
I truly enjoyed the depiction of the novel, appreciating the distinct character of each girl. The actresses illuminated the real differences among the girls, and they demonstrated equivalent strengths and weaknesses. However, the switching back and forth clearly confused the two women sitting next to us. When a very ill Beth dies they were at sea. I heard them whispering “Did someone die?” “One of the girls I think.”
I have yet to read any reviews of the film, nor have I read any conversations with the director. I wanted to be able to form my own opinions, although my granddaughter had already commented to me. Now I am eager to read about the film. Clearly the director and producer felt the time was ripe to present the book again. I probably would have let the novel, the two earlier movie versions, and the biography of Alcott herself suffice.
Saved By Words 
I have read the book, albeit in my youth. And I have seen two film versions. The 1949 film, and the 1994 version, with Winona Ryder. I liked both well enough, but thought there was little or no need for another version.
Best wishes, Pete.
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There really wasn’t.
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I enjoyed the PBS Masterpiece adaptation last year, actually 2018 I think, and was surprised that yet another version followed so quickly. It was a favorite book when I was a girl, and I enjoyed studying about Alcott as an adult.
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I missed that one and will look for it.
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It’s interesting that what seems like artistic license can just be plain confusing. I thought this in recent movies I have watched. Sometimes it’s just better to keep the original storyline in tact.
Bless you,
Jennifer
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I still don’t know what made her want to mix the time like that.
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It would be interesting to find out the reasoning behind it Elizabeth.
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I will try to find an interview with her.
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Thank you for this post, and the new movie review. You have confirmed what I wondered. Of course living where much of the movie was filmed in Groton gives the reviews a far different slant. I’ll stick with the 1949 movie, and of course the book.
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The scenery was lovely and authentic. That was the highlight for me.
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Fortunately the filming was all very close to her roots.
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I read it last year and I saw the trailer of the film on FB.
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I loved the book. I hesitate to watch movies of books that I love . Somehow they are not what I expected. Or maybe while reading we imagine in one way and the director need not imagine in that way. But I like the movie , Lord of the rings.
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I haven’t seen that. I know I stopped watching the “Harry Potter” first movie being very disappointed with the difference between the story in my mind and the film.
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One terrible movie was of Count if Monte Christo. At the end they changed the whole story. After that I do not feel like seeing movies made from books. It had come on TV long back.
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That is terrible. They should have named it something else.
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