I never read the Karen Cushman children's novel, "Catherine, Called Birdy," which was published right around the time I moved on to books for grown-ups. Lena Dunham recently adapted it into a film, starring Bella Ramsay as Birdy. It's one of the better YA films I've seen in a while, and perfect viewing for girls of a certain age. Birdy is a stubborn, mischievous fourteen-year-old girl in the year 1290. She clashes constantly with her father, Lord Rollo (Andrew Scott), who is set on turning Birdy into a lady and marrying her off to somebody rich. Birdy would rather be getting into trouble with her goat herder pal Perkin (Michael Woolfit) and best friend Aelis (Isis Hainsworth), writing to her brother, Edward the Monk (Archie Renaux), or exasperating her nursemaid, Morwenna (Lesley Sharp). Her loving mother (Billie Piper) is perpetually pregnant and worried.
"Birdy" presents a remarkably frank look at how love and marriage among the well-born worked in the 13th century. Birdy is beset by suitors of all shapes, sizes, and ages. The most persistent is an aging noble she calls "Shaggy Beard" (Paul Kaye). A lot of good comedy is wrung from the absurdity of the potential matches, and Birdy's glee at rejecting and thwarting them at every turn. Other aspects of Birdy's difficult transition to womanhood are also addressed, such as periods, haphazard information about sex, and her own nascent romantic and sexual feelings. There's a little bawdiness to some of Birdy's antics - not much beyond ogling some monks, but enough to help Birdy feel more like a real fourteen year-old girl, living in a world that doesn't match the idealized, romanticized depictions we usually get in films. On the other hand, this is still a movie aimed at a younger audience, and obliged to give the audience a certain degree of uplift. Some fans of the book may not be pleased at the film's rewritten, happier ending.
I haven't seen much from Lena Dunham since "Girls," but her writing and directing chops are pretty solid here. I like her use of online text to convey a lot of information about new characters, her directness about intimate matters, and her willingness to let her characters be complicated. Bella Ramsay is perfect as Birdy, completely self-assured and funny and genuine in every scene. She has no trouble at all carrying the film, and holding her own against more seasoned scene partners. "Birdy" never feels obnoxiously modern, the way some similar girl power narratives have, but it does feel very timely and very much the kind of film that probably wouldn't have gotten made before now, due to the subject matter. So I feel lucky we got this combination of talent to tackle this story in 2022.
Now on to the superficially similar, but very different "Rosaline." Shakespeare fans will remember the never-seen character of Rosaline was the girl that Romeo was in love with before he met Juliet. The new Karen Maine directed film, "Rosaline," retells the famous love story from her point of view. Kaitlyn Dever plays Rosaline Capulet, who is jilted by Romeo (Kyle Allen), in favor of her cousin Juliet (Isabela Merced). She spends most of the movie trying to sabotage the relationship and win back Romeo's affections, while spurning the advances of the hunky soldier, Dario (Sean Teale), that her father (Bradley Whitford) wants her to marry.
"Rosaline" is a farcical romantic comedy, which is so broad and so formulaic that I had to wonder if it might have once been a shelved Anne Hathaway or Amanda Seyfried vehicle from fifteen years ago. Paris (Spencer Stevenson) is rejiggered to be Rosaline's fabulous gay best friend. Her nurse (Minnie Driver) bemoans the fact that her training as an actual nurse is being wasted. Modern language and frequent anachronisms are used by everyone, with Romeo being the only character who keeps the iambic pentameter, because his only real defining trait is that he's prone to flowery speeches. Characterization is paper thin all around, and the tone is kept very, very silly. Think less "Shakespeare in Love," and more "The Princess Diaries."
There's nothing wrong with this, but I had hoped that the material would have yielded better things. No attempts are made to engage with the Shakespeare except at the most surface level. Anything resembling tension or tragedy is quashed quickly. The humor is so unoriginal, and the romance is so rote, I constantly felt like I'd seen the movie before. Kaitlyn Dever is the only one keeping things afloat, by sheer force of her charisma, with the occasional assist by Sean Teale. I don't think the movie is really at fault here, because it's exactly what it's advertised to be - a fluffy, feel-good rom-com where everyone gets a chance to dress up in fun costumes. I just wish it weren't quite so bland and disposable.
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