Gerwig's adaptation of Louisa May Alcott's novel weaves together 2 timelines from the March sisters' lives. One is the warm childhood past and the other is the harder adult present. The gap between them shows how memory and loss shape the stories we tell about ourselves.
Little Women is a 2019 drama and romance film directed by Greta Gerwig. This breakdown covers 4 techniques (2 narrative, 1 cinematography and 1 editing), each with the scene where you can see it. If you like how it is made, The Godfather Part II uses several of the same techniques.
Cutting back and forth between 2 timelines, often past and present. Each one helps explain the other as the film goes on.
How this film uses it
Gerwig cuts freely between the sisters' girlhood and their adult lives, with no title cards to tell you when you are. The color of the light keeps you oriented: warm amber for the past and cool blue-grey for the present. The cuts themselves follow the emotion of the scenes.
Where to see it
Jo in her New York garret in the cold present, intercut with the warmth of a childhood Christmas. The contrast between the 2 timelines is how the film gets at grief and memory.
Putting women at the center as leads, leaders and villains, and letting their choices drive every major plot turn. The story treats this as normal and never makes their gender the subject.
How this film uses it
Gerwig builds the whole adaptation around the sisters' ambitions, creative lives and desires. The men come second. The story is about what women want and what the 19th century allowed them to have.
Where to see it
Jo's negotiation with her publisher Mr. Dashwood. He insists the heroine must end up married, and Jo bargains for her copyright and royalties. Here the film states its main idea about women's creative freedom plainly.
Giving each time period or social world in the film its own set of colors. You always know where and when you are, and the colors carry a mood too.
How this film uses it
Yorick Le Saux's photography uses amber firelight and rich, warm color for the childhood scenes. The adult present gets cold light and washed-out grey. The past feels the way memory feels, even though the present is the more honest of the 2.
Where to see it
The shift from the golden Christmas party in the past to Jo alone in her cold New York room in the present. The cut takes 2 seconds, and it holds what the film wants you to feel about memory and loss.
Returning to a woven cord, thread or rope as a symbol of connection and fate. The repeated image links separate storylines and shows how the characters' lives are woven together.
How this film uses it
Writing and making things run through both timelines: Jo's manuscripts, Alcott's published pages, Amy's art. The motif keeps coming back to show the sisters' need to make something that will last.
Where to see it
Amy burning Jo's manuscript in the past, then Jo watching her own book being printed and bound in the present. Pages appear in both timelines, and they carry the opposite feeling each time.
Questions
Little Women: quick answers
What filmmaking techniques does Little Women use?
CineCode breaks down 4 techniques in Little Women (2019): Parallel Chronology, Female Agency as Structural Default, Period Color Separation and Braided Thread Motif.
Who directed Little Women?
Greta Gerwig directed Little Women, released in 2019. CineCode also covers Lady Bird (2017), Barbie (2023).
What films are similar to Little Women?
Films that share techniques with Little Women include The Godfather Part II (1974), The Hours (2002), The Matrix (1999), Princess Mononoke (1997).
