Christmas Classics: Little Women (1994)
Wednesday, December 14, 2016 at 6:00PM A few members of Team Experience will be sharing posts on their favorite Christmas movies. Here's Lynn Lee
You can have your Christmas Story or your It’s a Wonderful Life. For me, my Christmas movie will always be Gillian Armstrong’s Little Women, which took its bow Christmas Day, 1994, and has kept a place in my heart ever since. Even though it faithfully adapts a literary classic, the movie’s also a perfect encapsulation of the ’90s: besides Winona Ryder, for whom Little Women was something of a pet project, it also featured a very young Kirsten Dunst, fresh off her star-making turn in Interview With a Vampire, and Claire Danes, still in her Angela Chase days, making her big-screen debut, as well as a 20-year-old Christian Bale completing his transition from child to adult actor.
None of that, of course, meant anything to me when I first saw the film...
Little Women was one of my favorite books as a child, which meant I had a child’s protectiveness towards the material. I wasn’t a fan of either the 1933 or 1949 adaptations, and was prepared to hate the new one on the basis of casting alone. In what universe, complained I, was the tiny and preternaturally beautiful Winona Ryder a plausible choice to play the gangly, awkward, and decidedly plain tomboy Jo March?
Turns out, this one. It was love at first sight for me—with the movie and, yes, with Noni’s performance, which made you look past her beauty to the restless cauldron of emotions and energy chafing inside. The Academy apparently felt similarly, rewarding her with an Oscar nomination for best actress (she lost to Jessica Lange for Blue Sky); Colleen Atwood’s costumes and Thomas Newman’s score also got nods. And the film has endured, becoming the definitive adaptation of Little Women for bookish little girls everywhere. It was one of the first movies I requested my parents to get for me on video and insisted on watching every Christmas I spent at their home. It’s not quite as regular annual appointment viewing for me now, but if I do see it, it’s always around this time of year.
I watched it again recently, and in honor of the 12 days of Christmas, here are 12 random thoughts that passed through my head as I watched it:
1. That Thomas Newman score still wraps it arms around me like a warm blanket. The main theme makes me think of roaring fires and sleigh rides and “Americana” in the best sense; other parts evoke delicately drifting snowflakes.
2. Right at the outset, the movie does a good job establishing in quick strokes the sisters’ distinguishing traits: Jo’s writerly fervor and joie de vivre, Meg’s gentle stickling for decorum; Beth’s quiet sweetness; Amy’s exaggerated sense of self-importance.
3. What ever happened to Trini Alvarado?
4. Has Christian Bale ever been as charming as he was as Laurie?
5. The movie treads delicately – and for the most part successfully – between remaining faithful to the spirit of the book and dialing back some of its preachier, more 19th century mores (like punishing poor Meg for wanting to dress sexy and flirt – o, horrors!). Less successful are its efforts to shoehorn in facts from Alcott’s real life and her family’s social philosophy (feminism, abolitionism, Transcendentalism) to make the Marches seem more progressive-minded.
6. Noni is a joy, but the makeup & wardrobing department’s attempts to make her look plain are laughable. (I still remember the theater audience in 1994 hooting at the line “Your one beauty!” when Jo cuts her hair.) It’s not just her, though: Susan Sarandon and Gabriel Byrne are far sexier than Alcott or anyone probably ever envisioned Mrs. March or Professor Bhaer.
7. The second half of the movie shifts its focus entirely to Jo, rather to the detriment of the other sisters (except Beth).
8. Does anyone really like Amy? She’s the hardest to like in the book, too, which at least allowed her character more development and growth. Here, it’s a tribute to Kiki that she’s as appealing as she is as a child; I like Samantha Mathis, but her grown-up Amy seems to have no personality whatsoever.
9. Relatedly, Bale has maybe 1/100 of the chemistry with Mathis that he has with Noni. (In fairness, his “grown-up” Laurie comes across like a failed proto-hipster, and there’s something inherently weird about dating the little sister of the woman who broke your heart.)
10. Maybe the credit belongs to Noni. She has chemistry w/ the much older Byrne, too, even if I can’t help reading a Freudian father-figure dynamic into their romance.
11. Beth’s death scene still slays me every time. “Now I am the one going ahead…” (commence weeping)
12. This is still the best adaptation of Little Women, hands down.
What is *your* special Christmas movie and do you have fond memories of Little Women?
Reader Comments (22)
"I know I shall be homesick for you. Even in heaven."
That's the line that kills me.
Winona Ryder makes some acting choices that grate at times; she does this thing as Jo where she pouts with her jaw stuck out that just.....eeeeeek. But there's a lot to like about her performance.
And call me weird but there are little moments that border on being sensual in a, I don't know, naturalistic way. (I don't know. Maybe another woman could chime in here. Like when you're in the bath and it's sensual but not in a way that's about sex per se?) There's a brief moment where she's in the woods in this light dress, carrying wildflowers, and barefoot. It's right before Laurie kisses her. Or the redness of their lips against their fair skin and dark hair. I sound weird, sorry, I'm not sure how to describe it.
I always remember the nature in this movie. The snow, how rustic and unrefined the March home is, the flowers everywhere, I mean everywhere: in hair, bouquets, as garland in the houses, at the lovely little wedding, covering the houses, etc. Most movies set in this era are either set in grungy cities or upperclass societies, where nature is either nonexistent, harsh and threatening, or a prop.
.....I saw this when I was just past puberty and I was very impressionable at that age.
I adore this movie and it's criminally underrated.
Ryder as a fan of gives one her most mannered perforamnces not a genuine REAL moment.
Ugh, I still can't believe Jo rejected Laurie. Bale was so dreamy in this.
I'm with @Raul - I liked this production of Little Women, but can never abide the ending.
That said Susan Sarandon was a luminous mother in this. It's not my cup of eggnog at Xmas.
As for favourite Xmas movies mine is "About the Boy" it's a funny and emotionally moving story with a great cast including Hugh Grant, Toni Colette, Rachel Weisz & Nicholas Hoult.
A Christmas Carol with Alistair Sim. Perfection. Runner up is The Bells of St Mary's. Ingrid is simply enchanting.
I have only seen this version of Little Women once and it was several years ago, but I remember thinking that Winona Ryder's performance was very good.
This is one of my Christmas (and all-time) faves, too. It's not perfect but everything works for me, starting with that music and that twilight snow: you immediately know and want to join this family in their spare, cozy home. I love that it's loyal to its source, but not overly so (I much prefer the ending and this Professor Bhaer to the book's Professor Bhaer, but of course Gabriel Byrne helps a lot). Gillian Armstrong and Robin Swicord gave girls of all ages a tremendous gift with this film.
I don't think I've seen any of the Little Women adaptations.
My go-to Christmas viewing is The Judy Garland Show with Judy and the kids and White Christmas, Holiday Inn, Meet Me in St. Louis and It's a Wonderful Life.
One of my favourite Christmas things: The Most Horrible X-Mas Ever, Invader Zim.
We watch this movie every Christmas, but always stop it halfway through when the film jumps four years and everything stops being fun and warm and cozy.
Gillian Armstrong's Little Women is in my top 50 films of all-time. SO happy to see its brilliance singled out on a blog like this. Thank you.
"Does anyone really like Amy?"
I watched Little Women with my daughter when she was six, and Amy was her favorite character. I was a little aghast, but Moms listen, they don't judge.
She thought Amy was the most sensible character and the most fun. She married Laurie who was really nice, and they were rich and got to travel to interesting places and live in a nice house.
The other sisters: married some old guy who looked bossy and they were poor; brought home an infectious disease and died of it; felt so responsible for everyone else that she never had any fun herself and also was not rich.
Come on, Mom, which life would you choose?
Yes, my dear, I see exactly what you mean.
Sam, beautifully said - agree on every point. It's a really visually lovely movie, and sensual (or sensuous) like you describe, yet at the same time wondrously pure. A good one to watch as an adolescent; I think you & I must have seen it at a similar age.
Kari: Thanks for bringing up Robin Swicord, whom I neglected to credit for the screenplay. She really did an admirable job adapting the book, taking just enough liberties while still remaining true to its essence.
LadyEdith: I, too, love About a Boy - great non-obvious Christmas choice! Possibly my favorite Hugh Grant performance, too.
Mike: Ha, I know what you mean. I like the second half, but it loses some of the cozy charm of the first. The book's a bit that way, too.
chasm301, Jason: It's funny, I wouldn't say the movie is exactly underrated so much as...pigeonholed? ghettoized, even? as a "girls"' movie and/or a "literary" movie. But the fact that it's driven entirely by women (characters, director, author and screenwriter, etc.) is a large part of why it speaks so deeply to me.
Bemused Mom: Ha! Your daughter does have a point. Amy was definitely the most practical sister, and it served her well. But by the same token she comes across as the coldest of the four.
I adore this film far more than 61-year-old straight man should!
Oh, I completely adore the film and also turn to it every Christmas season. The gorgeous score by Thomas Newman is one of my all time favorites. And I think the costumes were the most authentic and Oscar-worthy of Colleen Atwood's career, to be honest. Love, love, love it.
LOVE this movie. Beth's death scene was the first time I ever cried in the theater, so it holds a special place in my heart. I still think Ryder should have won the Oscar for this (although it was a WEAK year for the nominees), and Sarandon should have been nominated for her radiantly warm, smart Marmee. Everything about it is just beautifully crafted, and this perfectly captured the feeling of it. Thanks, Lynn!
I liked different aspects of all three versions but agree this is the best of them. The forties one is beautiful to look at and Mary Astor makes a great Marmee but a 32 year old June Allyson as Jo was kind of a deal breaker. The Hepburn version is so praised but aside from her I found it something of a slog.
Most of the highlights of the Winona one have already been mentioned but I'll give a shout out for the wonderfully cantankerous performance by Mary Wickes as the crotchety Aunt March. She adds a nice shot of vinegar to the film to keep it from becoming too sweet.
My top six go to Christmas movies-White Christmas, Christmas in Connecticut, We're No Angels, A Christmas Story, the George C, Scott version of A Christmas Carol and The Lemon Drop Kid
Make Winona Ryder your theme for a Christmas movie night and you're in for a treat: "Little Women" and "Edward Scissorhand" makes such a good double bill.
Gosh, talk about deserving an Oscar… Thomas Newman has been nominated 13 times… and lost 13 times! (Adding insult to injury: his father Alfred is a 9-time Oscar winner!) He so deserves an Oscar already. If they're handing out Academy Awards to the likes of DiCaprio because he's "due" (and he's not due at all — yet — in my book), then give one to Newman!
The story that always comes to mind regarding Little Women was Winona Ryder's interview promoting the movie in Empire magazine. Paraphrasing, Winona revealed that she's had her fair share of working with big time leading men. Gabriel Byrne only had just about a week/a few days working on set. But when he wrapped, Winona said ALL the women who worked on the movie lined up to personally say goodbye to him. He was THAT charming and wonderful!
Thumbs up too on About A Boy being a great Christmas movie. "Santa's Super Sleigh!"
every CHRISTMAS my sister and I watch this or have it on
Pancake Bacon: in total agreement re: Thomas Newman. He's been my favorite film composer for donkey's years, and in the 90s, no one was doing better work. Little Women, Oscar and Lucinda, The Horse Whisperer. That's the good stuff...