Why you should (re)watch Lady Bird by Greta Gerwig

A celebrated actress and screenwriter of American independent cinema, Greta Gerwig made her solo directorial debut with Lady Bird in 2018. This uplifting, coming-of-age story about a rebellious teenager, portrayed by Saoirse Ronan, will be available on Netflix from 18 March 2026.

Lady Bird, the genesis of filmmaker Greta Gerwig

When she shot her first film with Joe Swanberg in 2006, Greta Gerwig joined the New York-based independent mumblecore movement [low-budget films favouring naturalistic performances], before becoming director Noah Baumbach‘s muse and close collaborator. The American actress and filmmaker even co-wrote scripts with him, like Frances Ha (2013).

But this status as a muse seems far too restrictive to define her today. It has become clear that the Sacramento-born director needs no one, not even her partner or a fellow director, to exist artistically speaking. Moving forward with quiet confidence and subtlety, Lady Bird (2018), her solo directorial debut, is a brilliant example. The feature is joining Netflix’s catalogue this Wednesday, 18 March.

A story of emancipation

Lady Bird is a story of emancipation. A rebellious teenager lives in Sacramento, a rather dull place that the young girl qualifies as a kind of local “Midwest,” where days drag on between complicated high school adventures and complicated relationships with the woman who gave her life. The opening scene of the movie shows Lady Bird, the name she has chosen for herself, jumping out of a moving car driven by her mother, tired of her comments and lack of empathy.

The film follows the traditional classic teenage fiction trope, even making the ever-present question of losing one’s virginity the centre of the narrative. The audience can glimpse at Gerwig’s own adolescence, down to the choice of Justin Timberlake’s best single, Cry Me a River, on the soundtrack. The memorable high school prom is not avoided either. And yet, the American director gives this sense of déjà vu a different tone, a distinct flavour, and a personality trait that is omnipresent.

An Oscar-winning, coming-of-age story starring Saoirse Ronan

This shift towards “elsewhere” unfolds in a subtle, almost imperceptible way. It is, above all, a matter of rhythm and perspective. The protagonist, played by the brilliant Saoirse Ronan, is never treated as an oddity. Instead, she is guided step by step by her desires. A constant sense of clarity and fluidity emerges from her journey and choices, allowing the film to break free from clichés and to weave a distinctly female perspective. Lady Bird grants herself the right to dream in her own language – to the point of inventing her own name – and that language is that of a woman.

When she returns to her best friend, a simple, slightly overweight girl who loves her deeply, the film brightens. Without any hostility and with a consistently inclusive approach, Gerwig sketches out a world now seen from a renewed perspective. The organic, expansive path she paves for her character ends with a form of peacefulness, a return to one’s roots. The young woman who once left the cocoon of childhood behind now chooses to reclaim her birth name. Lady Bird becomes Christine again, and the emotion is tangible.

This delicate, gentle tale about identity is paired with a political reflection on an abandoned American middle class, embodied by a father going through a long period of unemployment. This alchemy resonated beyond expectations in the United States. It even earned the filmmaker several Oscar nominations, including for Best Director. At the time, Greta Gerwig, aged 42, became the fifth woman to receive this honour. It may well mark the beginning of a long and prolific career…