Film a medieval delight
1990s cover songs and a Fleabag-like irreverence that many recent projects have tried and failed to mimic. But Dunham’s script, and her actors, are up to the task of melding the old and the new without resorting to inserting Instagram-speak into the script like Mad Libs.
Certainly there’s nothing new in a story about a young lady, be it in the 13th or 21st century, being asked by society and her parents to live a life that she doesn’t want, but Dunham is wise enough to not make the looming marriage be the only thing. This is a film that is much more concerned with family, friendship and the heartbreak of growing up. In this way, the emotion of it all sneaks up on you. It lures you in with comedy, wit and irreverence and before you know it, you’re reaching for the tissues and wondering when you came to care so much about the father-daughter relationship.
Aside from her essays, it is maybe the best thing that Dunham has done and makes me excited for what’s to come now that the world isn’t constantly asking her to apologise for her early successes and upbringing.
That Dunham held on to the dream of making Catherine Called Birdy for so long is equally incredible, especially in an industry that only once in a while lets women make things that meant something to them as girls that weren’t written by Jane Austen or called Little Women. And I suspect that quite a few precocious young girls will find similar comfort in Dunham’s movie.
Don’t get the wrong idea, though: Catherine Called Birdy is an unabashed delight for everyone. It just might run a little deeper for a certain age group. — AP