Little Women (2019)

Directed by:	Greta Gerwig
Written by:	Greta Gerwig Louisa May Alcott (based on the novel)
Release date:	December 25, 2019
Running time:	2 hours, 15 minutes
Rating:	PG (thematic elements; brief smoking)
Available on:	Apple TV Google/YouTube Amazon Video Fandango Movies Anywhere DVD Blu-Ray Ultra-HD Blu-ray

Little Women is a 2019 film based on the book of the same name. It stars an ensemble castconsisting of Saoirse Ronan, Emma Watson, Florence Pugh, Eliza Scanlen, Laura Dern, Timothée Chalamet, Meryl Streep, Tracy Letts, Bob Odenkirk, James Norton, Louis Garrel, and Chris Cooper. This movie was released in theaters on Christmas Day 2019.

Synopsis

In 1868, Jo March, a teacher in New York City, goes to Mr. Dashwood, an editor who agrees to publish a story she has written. Her youngest sister, Amy, who is in Paris with their Aunt March, attends a party with their childhood friend and neighbor, Laurie. Amy becomes angry at Laurie's drunken behavior, prompting him to mock her for spending time with wealthy businessman Fred Vaughn. In New York, Jo becomes hurt when Friedrich Bhaer, a professor infatuated with her, constructively criticizes her writing, causing her to end their friendship. After learning from a letter that her younger sister Beth's illness has worsened, Jo returns home to Concord, Massachusetts.

At a party with her older sister, Meg, seven years earlier, Jo befriends Laurie. On Christmas morning, the girls' mother, "Marmee", persuades them to give their breakfast to their poor neighbor Mrs. Hummel and her starving children. After returning home, they find a table full of food given to them by their neighbor and Laurie's grandfather, Mr. Laurence. Marmee then reads a letter from their father fighting in the American Civil War. Jo regularly visits Aunt March to read to her, hoping Aunt March would invite her to Europe.

When Meg, Jo, Laurie, and John—Laurie's tutor and Meg's eventual husband—go to the theater, a jealous Amy burns Jo's writings. The next morning, Amy, wanting to make up with an upset Jo, chases her and Laurie onto a lake where the two are skating. They save Amy after she falls through the ice. Mr. Laurence notices Beth's quiet demeanor and invites her to play his late daughter's piano in his house. Meg sits down with John in the present after buying an expensive fabric they couldn't afford, during which she expresses her unhappiness about being poor. Laurie visits Amy to apologize for his behavior and urges her not to marry Fred but to marry him instead. Though in love with Laurie, Amy refuses, upset at always being second to Jo. Despite this, she turns down Fred's proposal.

Mr. Laurence gifts his piano to Beth in the past and discovers she has contracted scarlet fever from the Hummels. To avoid the illness, Amy is sent to stay with Aunt March, who advises her to provide for her family by marrying well. John urges Meg to turn the fabric into a dress in the present to make her happy. Meg reveals she had sold it and reassures him of her happiness as his wife. Beth recovers in time for Christmas in the past, during which their father returns home as well. After worsening in the present, Beth dies. On Meg's wedding day in the past, Jo tries to convince her to run away, but Meg expresses her elation to marry John. Aunt March announces her European trip but takes Amy instead of Jo. After the wedding, Laurie proposes to Jo, who rejects him, explaining that she does not see herself married.

Marmee reveals Amy is returning from Europe with an ill Aunt March in the present. Jo wonders whether she was too quick to turn Laurie down and writes him a letter. Preparing to leave, Amy tells Laurie she turned down Fred's proposal; they kiss and later marry on the journey home. Jo and Laurie agree to only be friends, after which she discards the letter she wrote to him. Jo begins to write a novel based on her and her sisters' lives and sends the first chapters to an unimpressed Mr. Dashwood. Bhaer surprises Jo by turning up at the March house on his way to California.

In New York, Mr. Dashwood agrees to publish Jo's novel after his daughters demand to know how it ends, but he refuses to accept the protagonist remaining unmarried in the end. To appease him, Jo ends her novel with the protagonist, herself, stopping Bhaer from leaving for California. She successfully negotiates copyright and royalties with Mr. Dashwood. Following Aunt March's passing, Jo inherits her house and opens it as a school, where Meg, Amy, and Bhaer all teach. Jo observes the printing of her novel, titled "Little Women".

Music Compositions

• Chopin's "Nocturne No. 5 in F-sharp major Op. 15 No. 2"
• Schubert's
  • "Polonaise for Violin and Orchestra in B-flat major D. 580"
  • "Waltz No. 16 in A major Op. 9 D. 365"
  • "String Quartet No. 8 D. 112 III Menuetto. Allegro"
  • "5 German Dances D. 90 No. 5 in C major"
  • "Waltz D. 365 Op. 9 No. 6 in A-flat major"
• Brahms' "Waltz No. 15 in A-flat major Op. 39"
• Gottschalk's "L'Étincelle Op. 20"
• Strauss II's "Mephistos Höllenrufe Op. 101"
• Gounod's "La reine de Saba Act II Waltz"
• Beethoven's "Piano Sonata No. 8 in C minor Op. 13 'Pathétique' II. Adagio cantabile"
• Dvorák's "String Quartet No. 12 in F major Op. 96 'American' III. Molto vivace" - Skampa Quartet (Supraphon)
• "Come, Ye Disconsolate"
• Bach's "Sheep May Safely Graze" from "The Birthday Cantata No. 208"
• Schumann's
  • "Papillons Op. 2 No. 10 Waltz Vivo"
  • "Kinderszenen Op. 15 I. Von fremden Ländern und Menschen"
• Vivaldi's "Lute Concerto in D major RV 93 II. Largo"
• Hart's
  • "Lancers Quadrille: La Lodoiska""
  • "Lancer's Quadrille: La Finale"

See also

• the 1994 adaptation

External links

• Little Women at the Internet Movie Database
• Little Women at the Movie Database
• Little Women at Rotten Tomatoes

Sony Pictures