It was lovely to see Saoirse Ronan win the Best Actress Gotham Award for her role as “Lady Bird”/ Christine in Greta Gerwig’s debut film as a director. Especially so, because her mother, who lives in Ireland, was present at Cipriani Wall Street, and Gerwig initially titled the film, “Mothers and Daughters.” I saw the film for a second time at a recent screening at the Crosby Hotel hosted by Candice Bergen and Chloe Malle, mother and daughter. While Gerwig will admit the film hews close to some biographical detail, for example, that it is set in Sacramento, California, and she did in fact attend Catholic school, she veers off in many ways from her own story. Women of her age will surely identify with Ronan’s Lady Bird, her wrongheaded choices in boys, friends, habits like smoking, just about everything.

A second viewing allowed me to see the rudiments of this coming of age saga, and as a mother, to identify with her mother, Laurie Metcalf as the fictive Marion McPherson’s difficulties dealing with the precocious girl getting out of Sacramento. As Lady Bird goes off to college, Marion circles the airport after she has dropped her daughter off. In a sequence of facial expressions, Metcalf goes through the practical issues of airport traffic, trying to park, her face registering the real life distraction, and anguish of separation. Ronan is well on her way to an Oscar nod, but the academy voters could not miss awarding this stunning supporting performance from Laurie Metcalf.

Regina Weinreich

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