NAME : PUTU IKA SUTRAHENI

NIM : 0203920

Lady Bird
Director : Greta Gerwig
Screenplay : Greta Gerwig
Cast : Saoirse Ronan, Laurie Metcalf, Timothée Chalamet

Lady Bird is a film that tells a simple story. There is nothing bombastic, surprising or
surprising in the story that Greta Gerwig (Frances Ha, Mistress America) picks up. Lady Bird
was the first film that he himself served as a director. Greta Gerwig invites the audience to
return to their teenage years. This film tells the story of a Catholic high school student who
grows up in a boring small town with a family with poor financial conditions. The main
character who plays Lady Bird is a Catholic high school student in suburban Sacramento,
California, named Christine McPherson (Saoirse Ronan) who always insists on asking others
to call her “lady bird” because she thinks she is cooler than her real name. The conflict begins
with Lady Bird who falls in love with two men, both of whom are the wrong men for her.
Then the moment when Lady Bird tells Danny mockingly that she "came from a poor
family," she doesn't realize how much that statement has hurt her parents. But we will also
see the struggles of his parents, his father who was undergoing a process of downsizing at
work, his mother who worked extra shifts as a psychiatric nurse.
While in her final year of high school, Christine became bolder in voicing her desire
to continue her education to a university on the east coast of the United States just so that she
could leave life in her hometown which she considered boring. Judging from Christine's
academic achievement which is only at the 'enough' level, her emotions are still very
unstable, and of course the tuition fees are not cheap, her mother, Marion (Laurie Metcalf),
strongly opposes the daughter's plan and asks her to think realistically. Marion let Christine to
study as long as the university is not far from home. Marion's concern for the future of her
youngest daughter was interpreted differently by Christine so that a cold war between the two
was inevitable. His mother said hurtful things, constantly calling her son selfish, arrogant and
ungrateful. Meanwhile Lady Bird vowed that she would pay all the money she had ever spent
so that she would no longer have to hear this.
 Besides the war with her mother, the conflicts that Christine experienced ended such
as falling in love with the wrong person, giving up her virginity with the wrong man, making
friends with the wrong friends in order to raise social status at school, until her father was
fired from his job immediately. threatening Christine's big dream to go to college makes us
who watch this film feel so realistic. For those of us who have passed our teenage years,
watching Lady Bird is like being invited to reminisce about our teenage years. Reminiscing
about a phase of self-discovery filled with silliness due to curiosity, anger, and annoyance
that is difficult to control. The shock of entering a new stage in life causes emotional stability
to falter, leading to thoughts that one is better than others, more unique than others, and more
important than others. Christine McPherson is like that too, using the name "lady bird" and
dyeing her hair makes her think that she is different from her peers, by hanging out and
having sex with popular children makes her have a higher social status, and by leaving her
hometown, actually the motive Christine's main reason for going to college was not really
because she wanted to gain knowledge but for the sake of living life in a big city, making her
a cool person.
In fact, whether he realizes it or not, Christine actually shows that he is nothing more
than a confession-hungry teenager with shallow thoughts. Even though it feels annoying at
times, what Christine has done is actually still quite human. Who doesn't want to be part of
the popular group at school? Who doesn't want to stand out from the crowd? Who doesn't
hate living in the same place all their life? Adult audiences, admit it or not, it feels like
they've been in Christine's phase. There are at least one or two scenes that will make us say
"yes, I used to be like this!" while watching Lady Bird. The same circumstances that we have
experienced with what was conveyed by Lady Bird is the main factor that makes this film
feel so alive. This is like a mirror that reflects the silliness of our lives when we were still
wearing gray and white uniforms.
The similarities will be more pronounced when we finally decide to leave and have
complex relationships with our mothers or parents, such as hatred, distance, longing or very
love. In fact, we will tear up or even cry when the film reaches scenes with the keywords
“receiving mail”, “washing the dishes” and “taking it to the airport”. The figures of Christine
and Marion as the core of the story are described as characters that have two sides, namely
good and bad. Sometimes we will fully sympathize with them to the point of wanting to give
them a warm hug, sometimes we are so irritated that we want to scream loudly at them. The
story is fully supported by the players. Ronan's role as Lady Bird was completely natural.
Adolescents who act freely are generally defiant but can be fragile, emotional, and sad.
Ronan successfully plays Lady Bird with expressiveness.
Moreover, his naive face to the mother and teacher really looks like a teenager with
puberty emotions. You must have experienced stubborn times when you were in school, felt
the most correct and knew best what you wanted. Ronan's co-star, Laurie Metcalf as the
mistress can also balance the quality of her acting. So, Lady Bird and her mother managed to
build a story that makes you satisfied. The dialogues and humor that are full of satire make
this film comfortable to follow. There is also the character Jules (Beanie Feldstein) as Lady
Bird's best friend whose comedy and innocence makes the film more colorful. The characters
Danny (Kucas Hedges), Jenna (Lois Smith), Kyle (Timothee Chalamet), Miguel (Jordan
Rodriguez), Reverend Leviatch (Stephen Henderson), and grandfather Lady Bird (Tracy
Letts) each have natural roles. Their existence is not just a cheerleader, but as a complement
that builds the integrity of the story.