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Little Women: The Screenplay
Four sisters come of age in America in the aftermath of the Civil War.
Greta Gerwig’s “Little Women,” which she wrote and directed for Sony Pictures, is one of the great film achievements of the year. To give her film an epic scope — which it has — Gerwig drew from Louisa May Alcott’s classic novel, Alcott’s life and letters, and her own (seamlessly incorporated) original material.
Find the screenplay here: https://pmcvariety.files.wordpress.co...
Greta Gerwig’s “Little Women,” which she wrote and directed for Sony Pictures, is one of the great film achievements of the year. To give her film an epic scope — which it has — Gerwig drew from Louisa May Alcott’s classic novel, Alcott’s life and letters, and her own (seamlessly incorporated) original material.
Find the screenplay here: https://pmcvariety.files.wordpress.co...
125 pages, ebook
Published December 25, 2019
11 people are currently reading
716 people want to read
About the author
Greta Gerwig
8 books169 followersGreta Celeste Gerwig is an American actress and filmmaker.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 71 reviews
September 15, 2020
Such a stunningly written yet beautifully simplistic screenplay. Greta really lets her scenes breathe and allows the actor to bring it to life while also adding an undeniable essence and soul into every moment in this story. It’s awe-inspiring.
January 6, 2020
I wish I could give this script a hundred stars. I wish I could convey to Greta Gerwig how much admiration I have for her vision. I wish I could tattoo every line of this into my heart and on my skin. I wish there was a way to hug this film like it hugged me, my young self, and my future one. If I began listing the adjectives I would dedicate to it we'd be here forever just showering it with praise. I am very grateful.
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March 7, 2025❤️
shit, I'm crying, ohh god....
shit, I'm crying, ohh god....
February 8, 2020
Freaking Brilliant!!!!!
...that when I come back to them I may be fonder and prouder than ever of my little women.
Little Women tells the coming of age story of the March sisters, Meg (Emma Watson), Jo (Saoirse Ronan), Amy (Florence Pugh) and Beth (Eliza Scanlen). With their father off fighting in the American Civil War, the girls are raised by Marmee (Laura Dern) and, let's not forget, by each other. The narrative touches on the joys and struggles of each young woman; how they grow and mature, with the friendship of neighbour Theodore “Laurie” Laurence (Timothée Chalamet) playing a huge role in their lives.
Gerwig takes the well-known story of the four March sisters and shakes it up - literally. She flips the book’s girlhood-to-adulthood chronology on its head and then splices it, reframing the narrative from the grown-up perspective of the second sister and Alcott stand-in, Jo, as an aspiring postbellum writer looking back at her and her sisters’ childhood in a series of flashbacks that eventually provide inspiration for her writing.
Well, I believe we have some power over who we love, it isn’t something that just happens to a
person.
Ultimately, what emerges from Gerwig’s restructuring is an extremely meta narrative about writing and being a woman writer in particular, underscored by the movie’s opening and closing images of physical bookmaking and the narrative framing device of Jo’s negotiations with a skeptical publisher (Tracy Letts) who bluntly advises her that all female characters need to be either married or dead by the end of the story. How Gerwig addresses that prescription as to Jo results in a witty hat tip to Alcott, who herself never married and fumed over having to make Jo do so.
The biggest beneficiary is Amy who finally escapes the usual limitations of the spoiled youngest sister role to emerge as a genuinely interesting, even compelling, three-dimensional character.
The screenplay definately helped me to appreciate the movie a bit more. In fact, I am tempted to watch it a second time already knowing that this has changed my entire perspective of the story and what Greta tried to transmit.
...that when I come back to them I may be fonder and prouder than ever of my little women.
Little Women tells the coming of age story of the March sisters, Meg (Emma Watson), Jo (Saoirse Ronan), Amy (Florence Pugh) and Beth (Eliza Scanlen). With their father off fighting in the American Civil War, the girls are raised by Marmee (Laura Dern) and, let's not forget, by each other. The narrative touches on the joys and struggles of each young woman; how they grow and mature, with the friendship of neighbour Theodore “Laurie” Laurence (Timothée Chalamet) playing a huge role in their lives.
Gerwig takes the well-known story of the four March sisters and shakes it up - literally. She flips the book’s girlhood-to-adulthood chronology on its head and then splices it, reframing the narrative from the grown-up perspective of the second sister and Alcott stand-in, Jo, as an aspiring postbellum writer looking back at her and her sisters’ childhood in a series of flashbacks that eventually provide inspiration for her writing.
Well, I believe we have some power over who we love, it isn’t something that just happens to a
person.
Ultimately, what emerges from Gerwig’s restructuring is an extremely meta narrative about writing and being a woman writer in particular, underscored by the movie’s opening and closing images of physical bookmaking and the narrative framing device of Jo’s negotiations with a skeptical publisher (Tracy Letts) who bluntly advises her that all female characters need to be either married or dead by the end of the story. How Gerwig addresses that prescription as to Jo results in a witty hat tip to Alcott, who herself never married and fumed over having to make Jo do so.
The biggest beneficiary is Amy who finally escapes the usual limitations of the spoiled youngest sister role to emerge as a genuinely interesting, even compelling, three-dimensional character.
The screenplay definately helped me to appreciate the movie a bit more. In fact, I am tempted to watch it a second time already knowing that this has changed my entire perspective of the story and what Greta tried to transmit.
July 29, 2022
a masterpiece 🤍
July 28, 2023
i just found out jo never really got married and it feels so right i'm happy for my girl
May 19, 2022
I always forget how much i adore this adaptation. I found it so tender and delightful. I did cringe at some word choices here, but it was outweighed by the dialogues that I did love, ones that were passionate and sincere. I just loved how it connected the author's book and the author's story. I also found myself to enjoy the flashback style more in the screenplay.
April 16, 2020
INT. PUBLISHING HOUSE. DAY. 1871.
a man finishes the book, and unceremoniously hands it to jo and gets to work on the next one.
THE PAST, OR MAYBE FICTION, OR MAYBE BOTH. 1850S.
beth, meg, amy and jo are very young girls, playing in their attic, together again, if only in memory, or in the book.
INT. PUBLISHING HOUSE. DAY. 1871.
jo turns it over in her hands, touching it like the holy object it is, her inchoate desire made manifest.
jo looks up ...
and sees the future -
CUT TO BLACK.
that's cinema baby !
a man finishes the book, and unceremoniously hands it to jo and gets to work on the next one.
THE PAST, OR MAYBE FICTION, OR MAYBE BOTH. 1850S.
beth, meg, amy and jo are very young girls, playing in their attic, together again, if only in memory, or in the book.
INT. PUBLISHING HOUSE. DAY. 1871.
jo turns it over in her hands, touching it like the holy object it is, her inchoate desire made manifest.
jo looks up ...
and sees the future -
CUT TO BLACK.
that's cinema baby !
September 18, 2021
Actual rating: 3.5
I feel like reading the screenplay made me appreciate the adaptation a little less? I wasn't a fan of how the dialogue often overlaps. Those portions felt very unnatural in my opinion. Still excellently written.
I feel like reading the screenplay made me appreciate the adaptation a little less? I wasn't a fan of how the dialogue often overlaps. Those portions felt very unnatural in my opinion. Still excellently written.
August 25, 2024
Greta kan met zo weinig woorden zo veel zeggen. Love her. Ook leuk als je de film quasi vanbuiten kent en kleine verschillen kan opmerken. Masterpiece, maar dat wisten we wel al. <33
June 6, 2024
I finished reading this during a study hall at work to create an assignment for our watch-along next week. It was so excellent that I teared up with students in the room. I almost never tear up at novels or plays at ALL, let alone when 15 year olds are watching, so let that speak to the utterly charming beauty and love that this script holds!! Greta Gerwig you are my idol.
January 29, 2025
“It's no use Jo; we've got to have it out..
I have loved you ever since I've known you Jo --I couldn't help it, and you've been so good to me -- I've tried to show it but you wouldn't let me; now I'm going to make you hear and give me an answer because I can't go on like this any longer. I've worked hard to please you, and I gave up billiards and everything you didn't like, and waited and never complained for I hoped you'd love me, though I'm not half good enough”
Thanks Greta Gerwig for breaking my heart like that on a Wednesday morning… Is there a better screenplay out there? I doubt it (ok Fleabag exists).
I have loved you ever since I've known you Jo --I couldn't help it, and you've been so good to me -- I've tried to show it but you wouldn't let me; now I'm going to make you hear and give me an answer because I can't go on like this any longer. I've worked hard to please you, and I gave up billiards and everything you didn't like, and waited and never complained for I hoped you'd love me, though I'm not half good enough”
Thanks Greta Gerwig for breaking my heart like that on a Wednesday morning… Is there a better screenplay out there? I doubt it (ok Fleabag exists).
February 26, 2020
Beth: Do what Marmee taught us to do. Do it for someone else. / Jo is quiet. Sometimes it's hard when someone knows you.As someone who adores the book, is in love with Saoirse Ronan and excited about the products of Gerwig's genius: I might be a little biased, but GOD. This movie feels like a comfortable embrace after a long journey home. It sets a place for you at the table, feeds you meals you can't quite manage to replicate on your own just yet, and settles in on the comforter around a fire to share quiet conversations and remembrances with you. One of my favourite films of 2019, and one of my favourite films ever. Can't wait to read the Lady Bird script.
March 2, 2020
so greta kinda confirmed that the ending was fiction, and that jo did not actually get married??
i'm so happy, it's all i could have asked for.
this screenplay was so beautiful to read, and was quite a different experience from watching the movie. greta has a way with words, and her attention to details is just admirable.
i'm just so obsessed with this movie, with the way she brought those characters to life.
so glad i got around to reading the screenplay, and i can't wait to watch the movie endlessly for the rest of my life 🤪
i'm so happy, it's all i could have asked for.
this screenplay was so beautiful to read, and was quite a different experience from watching the movie. greta has a way with words, and her attention to details is just admirable.
i'm just so obsessed with this movie, with the way she brought those characters to life.
so glad i got around to reading the screenplay, and i can't wait to watch the movie endlessly for the rest of my life 🤪
November 3, 2021
Wow, my brain definitely needed that boost of serotonin, and this screenplay has given it in copious amount.
May 29, 2024
A movie that I loved and that make me read the book. Reading the script makes me realize and analyze the way scripts are structured and especially how every script differs from the writer.
March 8, 2022
controversial, but if i had to pick between this and the novel, (((i would pick this)))
July 20, 2021
The writing of this much beloved story (by me) is good. That said, I wasn't a fan of the many back and forth scenes from present to past to present again. Obviously, it was an attempt to make the script the writer's own. After the first few times, the return to the past became predictable when reading (and viewing) a present scene. And sure enough...
The beginning and end scenes were wonderful brackets for the entire movie, laugh out loud funny for this writer.
And, I did like how all the scenes were quite different from the 1994 version that I've come to love to the point of rewatching it over 40 times. It's still my favorite version to date.
This 2019 script and it's production are both worth reading and viewing. You won't be disappointed.
The beginning and end scenes were wonderful brackets for the entire movie, laugh out loud funny for this writer.
And, I did like how all the scenes were quite different from the 1994 version that I've come to love to the point of rewatching it over 40 times. It's still my favorite version to date.
This 2019 script and it's production are both worth reading and viewing. You won't be disappointed.
January 12, 2020
Hoy fui golpeada por la maravillosa brutalidad de Little Women y el brillante talento de Greta Gerwig, el screenplay es adaptado, de tal manera que al leerlo sientes tanta emociones y la pasión con la que se escribió el libro. La manera en que Greta goza la historia y como te la cuenta. Mientras leía sentía una sacudida de emociones por la manera en que me sentí identificada y retratada en Jo fue brutal, hay una parte en donde hay mucho de mi en un personaje que siento que duele.
Los saltos en el tiempo fue brillante, te encandilaron y te llena de nostalgia.
Me encanta que está fue mi primera lectura del año, me llena de emoción y felicidad.
Los saltos en el tiempo fue brillante, te encandilaron y te llena de nostalgia.
Me encanta que está fue mi primera lectura del año, me llena de emoción y felicidad.
January 31, 2020
The screenplay explains many of the gestures and glances that some of the actors didn't quite adequately convey. I can see why it is nominated for academy awards but the directing and picture aren't. Not to say it is a bad film because it is certainly very good. However others have succeeded more in putting their less exceptional scripts on screen.
January 2, 2020
I really want to watch the movie again.
"He accepts the hug like he's been waiting for it his whole life." (p. 82)
"Mr. Laurence offers to dance with Aunt March, but she turns him down. Then Laurie also approaches her. Aunt March feigns even more hatred, to cover her EPIC DELIGHT." (p. 94)
"He accepts the hug like he's been waiting for it his whole life." (p. 82)
"Mr. Laurence offers to dance with Aunt March, but she turns him down. Then Laurie also approaches her. Aunt March feigns even more hatred, to cover her EPIC DELIGHT." (p. 94)
January 21, 2020
it’s just perfect, it’s beautiful. i want to hold it in my heart forever. greta gerwig everything you’ve done with this film/this screenplay is masterful
January 3, 2021
4.5 stars
content warnings
- sexism
- death
review
This was one of my favourite films of 2019 (that I watched in 2020) and the screenplay is incredible. Seeing all the thoughts that went behind each scene or what each character felt vs. what I had interpreted was such an interesting experience.
content warnings
- sexism
- death
review
This was one of my favourite films of 2019 (that I watched in 2020) and the screenplay is incredible. Seeing all the thoughts that went behind each scene or what each character felt vs. what I had interpreted was such an interesting experience.
August 31, 2023
A screenplay that just glows with real love and humanity.
August 26, 2024
4.5 || es un CRIMEN que haya leído esto antes que el libro completo, alguien me lo compra?
October 9, 2024
I need to go lay down
October 16, 2025
I cried.
December 2, 2023
Chills chills chills. So amazing. Her writing style is so unique and beautiful. Poetry poetry poetry. I love this film so much, and it’s wonderful getting this insight.
February 10, 2022
‘no, i’d be respected if i couldn’t be loved’ alone deserves this five star review
January 7, 2024
4.5
é oficial. o impossível aconteceu !
AMO SCREENPLAYS
sao tao bons!!! não sei como nunca tinha lido nenhum até este ano.
juro q estou na minha screenplay era
é oficial. o impossível aconteceu !
AMO SCREENPLAYS
sao tao bons!!! não sei como nunca tinha lido nenhum até este ano.
juro q estou na minha screenplay era
Displaying 1 - 30 of 71 reviews