Sony Pictures Studios showed the first movie adaptation trailer for the novel Little Women by American writer Louise May Alcott. The video appeared on the company's official YouTube channel.

The main roles in the new film adaptation will be performed by Sirsha Ronan (“Lady Bird”, “Atonement”), Emma Watson (series of films about Harry Potter), Florence Pugh (“Solstice”), Eliza Scanlan (mini-series “Sharp Objects”) and Laura Sod (TV series "Big Little Lies"). Meryl Streep (The Iron Lady, Kramer vs. Kramer), who plays Aunt March, and Timothy Chalame (“Call Me Your Name”) will also appear in the picture.

The plot develops against the backdrop of a war between the North and the South. The father of the heroines, March sisters - Meg (Watson), Joe (Ronan), Beth (Scanlen) and Amy (Pugh) - disappears at the front, the family struggles with poverty. In the same period, girls grow spiritually, and each on the path to self-determination has to pass a serious test.

The director of the picture was a two-time Oscar nominee Greta Gerwig, who was initially offered the post of screenwriter. However, after the success of her full-fledged directorial debut, Lady Bird, the company invited Herwig to do the production of the film as well.

Greta Gerwig is known as an actress thanks to films in the style of mumblecore - a kind of independent cinema that has a low budget and concentration on dialogs (from the English mumble - “mumble”).

The foreign media dubbed the tapes with her participation the symbols of the millennial generation: Herwig played roles that were close to her and reflected the spirit of the times. In particular, the actress was involved in the films of Joe Svanberg "LOL" and "Hannah takes the height." In 2008, she continued to work with Svanberg: both were engaged in directing and working on the script for the film “Nights and Weekends”, and also played the main roles in it.

Finally, in 2017, Herwig made her first full-length film, Lady Bird. The tape was awarded two Golden Globes (best comedy or musical and best female role), and also received five Oscar nominations. In addition, the picture set a new record of "freshness" on Rotten Tomatoes, receiving more than 164 positive reviews and not a single negative (at the moment its "freshness" is 99%).

Parenting novel

The writer Louise May Alcott became famous in the late 1860s, when the first print run of her novel Little Women appeared on the shelves of bookstores. The commercial success of the first book inspired Alcott to continue - this is how a whole series of books about the March family came about.

In the Herwig film, we are talking about the very first novel of the cycle, partly reflecting the childhood events of the writer, who also grew up with three sisters. The book, which traces the stages of growing up characters, in particular, the protagonist Joe March, is a classic novel of educating the American literary tradition.

Creating “Little Women”, Olcott relied on the experience of English literature of realism (the work of Dickens and Bronte) and sought to preserve the signs of the edification novel: in the story of the four sisters there is a clear contrast between virtue and vice, as well as a demonstration of the heroines passing moral tests.

  • Frame from the 1994 series “Little Women”
  • © kinopoisk.ru

The decision of Western producers to take on the adaptation of May Alcott’s novel is hardly accidental: its author fought for women's rights, feminist notes slip through the book every now and then. Thus, “Little Women” (especially with the feminist Emma Watson in one of the central roles) fully and completely meet the needs of modern Hollywood.

So, the main character, Joe (Josephine) March is a rebellious girl, the prototype of which was Alcott herself. Joe March dreams of becoming a writer and composes plays from a young age. She does not want to compromise with the editor, demanding a "spicy story", at the end of which the main female character will be married.

“In addition to the heart, women also have a mind and soul,” Joe indignant in the performance of Saoirse Ronan in the trailer. - They have not only beauty, but also aspirations and talent. I’m sick of hearing that love is the only thing a woman can do. ”

The role of Josephine March in the film adaptation of the 1933 novel was played by Katherine Hepburn, and in the adaptation of 1994 - Winona Ryder. “Little Women” was transferred to the screen several times: the penultimate multi-series adaptation was done by the BBC.

Herwig’s world premiere is scheduled for December 25, 2019, which is also no coincidence. Catholic Christmas is symbolic for the novel: it is on this holiday that the narrative begins, and a year later - also on Christmas - ends.