Lena Dunham’s Catherine Called Birdy is a boisterous, ballsy, medieval delight
Game of Thrones’ Bella Ramsey is a 13th-century teen with a 21st-century attitude in Dunham’s deliciously clever YA novel adaptation
Film Reviews Lena Dunham
For those of you who have given up on Lena Dunham, no one can say you don’t have your reasons. Whether it’s because her groundbreaking HBO series, Girls, ended in 2017, or she’s been suffering through a bout of creative stagnation, Dunham’s spot in the cultural conversation has taken a major hit. The July 2022 theatrical release of Sharp Stick, her first feature directing effort since 2010’s Tiny Furniture, only compounded the worries. But Dunham has taken her oft-articulated concerns about women’s empowerment and self-determination and transported them to 13th-century England in Catherine Called Birdy, a charming, clever, and altogether delicious comeback film that redefines Dunham in a way that just recently seemed unlikely.
Dunham says she fell in love with Karen Cushman’s 1994 novel, Catherine, Called Birdy, when she was 10 years old, and her enthusiasm is immediately evident and infectious. The 14-year-old Birdy is played by the fabulous Bella Ramsey (Game of Thrones) with a mischievous smile that hides a wellspring of devious thoughts and insidious plans. She’s a whip-smart rebel, but she’s not always as smart as she thinks she is. When we meet Birdy, caked in mud after a spirited (most of her activities can be defined as spirited) garden romp with her friends, she conveys her utmost revulsion at how babies are made, which, she’s told, involves taking a “heated iron poker and sticking it up my nose.”
Her humor and attitude, both irreverent and more than a touch modern, gets her into—and out of—a lot of trouble. The latter will become most crucial after Birdy gets her first period (“I am dying. It is plain to see”), which prompts her father, Lord Rollo (a hilariously dippy Andrew Scott), to try and marry her off to rid himself of his debts. Much like the women from Girls were beholden to the mores and assumptions of 21st-century society, Birdy is trapped by a patriarchal system that thinks nothing of selling off young ladies for a velvet sack filled with coins.
To Rollo’s constant annoyance, Birdy goes to great pains to scare off every one of her potential suitors, until she meets the “cave-dwelling troll” she christens Shaggy Beard (a terrific Paul Kaye, masticating every line). Shaggy Beard loves a chase, so he’s not scared away when Birdy punches him in the nose or prepares an ointment made of feces for his aching joints. Their one-sided courtship leads to an ending that deviates significantly from Cushman’s novel and while the film’s wrap-up is a bit drawn out, it allows the self-liberated Birdy the option of choosing her own future.
In adapting Cushman’s work to the screen, Dunham crafts an endlessly quotable script that has no qualms about gleefully avoiding strict period accuracy. Birdy narrates the tale as a diary entry and while such near-constant voice-over would normally be an intrusive and annoying crutch, any opportunity for Birdy to articulate her thoughts about her friends, family, and would-be husbands proves welcome. She has particularly choice words for her hated father who can’t believe anyone would want to marry his “disgusting” daughter. Birdy is more inclined towards her Uncle George (Joe Alwyn), whom she idolizes, even if he refuses to romanticize his time serving in the Crusades and is often correcting the record on his supposedly good and heroic deeds. Birdy’s mother, Lady Aislinn (Billie Piper), is a reliable source of comfort, although one brutally difficult pregnancy serves as a reminder of the future responsibilities Birdy would prefer to avoid.
Many of the film’s rich, well-drawn characters represent the period’s often opportunistic attitudes towards love and marriage. Birdy’s friend Aelis (Isis Hainsworth) weds a 9-year-old who happens to be a duke, while George’s marriage to Ethelfritha (a luminous Sophie Okonedo) is strictly transactional: she gets the title she desires while he gets her money. Then there’s Birdy’s best friend, Perkin (Michael Woolfitt), fated to a life of struggle for reasons that add a note of progressivism that aligns with Dunham’s tendency to reach for “voice of a generation” significance. But it works, especially for a YA film, with only the emo-updates of songs like Alicia Keys’ “Girl On Fire” and Mazzy Star’s “Fade Into You” pushing the contemporizing too far.
Otherwise, Catherine Called Birdy wears its feminist and diversity bona fides lightly and with such skill that it masks, without ignoring, the dire predicament Birdy is actually in. Much of what transpires is a product of its time but by channeling her points through such a strong-willed and amusingly acerbic young heroine, Dunham establishes a sturdy connection to today. In Cushman’s novel, Birdy’s mother says her daughter should stop “pounding against the bars of your cage and be content.” In Dunham’s wonderful new film, a plucky young girl reminds us that pounding against the bars of your cage is how little birdies become free.
65 Comments
Too bad she molested her little sister, I guess at least she admitted it?
Literally a made up lie from a right-wing blog who claimed she was 10 years older than the year of the incident. She touched her sister when she was a 7 year old.
This as dismissive as the person making the accusation. I feel like what both sides miss is the real issue is the response of Dunham’s mother. Yes, kids get curious and don’t have a full understanding of consent and will at time violate boundaries. But it’s up to the adults to put a stop to it. And not in a hysterical, overdramatic way but in a way that teach children about consent and boundaries. Once their mother found out about it, the first conversation should been about inappropriate touching. Instead Dunham’s mother laughed it off (according to Dunham’s own book) and then Dunham retells this story as a quirky anecdote! That’s messed up. Is Dunham a molester? Nope. But is it a major problem that no one in her family seems to understand that was serious issue? Yup.
This is as dismissive as the person making the accusationThere is NO ONE making any accusation. She told a story about herself in a memoir and then a blog lied about it.
Wasn’t she 7 and looked inside her sister’s vagina? I’m a recovering victim of child molestation myself, I don’t see how this equates to the old man that cornered me a few times when I was a kid. No matter how much right wing media wants to equate it
“Birdy! Hey Birdy! It’s Catherine! Can you hear me? Birdy!!!”
Birdy died on the way to her home planet.
YA has been the worst trend in lit and media in the last 15 years, and with the biggest author of the genre coming out as an insane bigot who lacks talent, maybe we can put the genre out to pasture.
probably still going to be young adults for the foreseeable future, so….
I doubt this particular genre is unique in these qualities.
This is an adaptation of a book from 1994.
Well you know way back in 1994 it was totally acceptable for 14 year old girls with dumb nicknames to be married off in exchange for a $35 gift certificate to the Compton Swap Meet.
Do you think the movie/novel is set in 1994? Or that the movie/novel endorses 14 year olds being married?
Just ignore it. It’s not like those authors would have been writing real books anyway
Nobody “comes out” as lacking talent. Authors write books and that testifies to how much talent they have. YA is aimed at children, who lack discernment for quality writing.
YA is many things, from horror to romance and everything in between. So it’s a bit unfair to paint it all with one giant brush. JKR is not YA, she’s middle-grade. John Green is not a bigot afaik.
“YA” isn’t a trend. The only misnomer is that “Young Adults” are not even close to being adults. They used to be called “older children”. Whatever you call it, there have been books written for that age group since fiction became available to the masses.
Did I wake up in a parallel universe where the AV Club thinks Lena Dunham and her creepy inappropriate relationship movie are…good?
Did I wake up in a parallel universe where the AV Club thinks Lena Dunham and her creepy inappropriate relationship movie areWhat are you referring to here?
Alison Brie.
No, wait! Damn, sometimes my brain does that.
If I’d known it was that kind of party I’d’ve stuck my dick in the mashed potatoes.
spiders can’t call other things creepy
Don’t you oppress me, you bloody arachnist!
Do you think you live in a world where teenagers never develop crushes on people older than themselves? Do you think all stories are de facto endorsements of the actions of their protagonists? Are you really in a place to call anything creepy when you were so very eager to add to the pile of sexual harassment aimed at Erin Moriarty in the comments of an article about that very thing?
I don’t think about teenagers and their crushes because I’m not a grooming incel toxic creep like you.
Maybe you’d be more comfortable talking to Woody Allen.
Weird response man. But I do know for a fact that you are a toxic creep so I’m inclined to believe you’re also projecting about the “grooming incel” bit as well since that certainly doesn’t apply to me.
It’s the go-to insult du jour that says “I’m shutting down this argument and I win”
Man, you have to explain everything to some people. And yes, of course, you know me for a fact.
(grabs popcorn, settles in for the fireworks)this looks fun…knappsterbot, your turn…
There’s this weird conflation with Lena Dunham the writer and Hannah on Girls where you have to ignore the fact that the characters are written to be terrible and she was very clear that they were terrible. The people who are terrible in most of her work are supposed to be terribleBut everyone else is happy to go the misogynistic “oh she’s not pretty after having to have a radical hysterectomy that fucks with your hormones if you’re a woman and getting sober” and ignore the part where Sharp Stick including an all-female production crew and cast a trans actress in a role where being trans was not the central theme of the character – things we keep pretending we want from film.
Wait, which Lena Dunham felt entitled to Odell Beckham Jr.’s body because he’s a black man and all black men want nothing more to violate white women but because he didn’t he’s obviously misogynistic?LD: You and I were literally sitting across from each other at the Met Ball, and it was so surreal to get to do that.I was sitting next to Odell Beckham Jr., and it was so amazing because it was like he looked at me and he determined I was not the shape of a woman by his standards. He was like, “That’s a marshmallow. That’s a child. That’s a dog.”* It wasn’t mean — he just seemed confused.The vibe was very much like, “Do I want to fuck it? Is it wearing a … yep, it’s wearing a tuxedo. I’m going to go back to my cell phone.” It was like we were forced to be together, and he literally was scrolling Instagram rather than have to look at a woman in a bow tie. I was like, “This should be called the Metropolitan Museum of Getting Rejected by Athletes.”*Note: Odell did not actually say these things.
I didn’t take that to be a direct quote from Odell Beckham Jr. and again, I think it’s a stretch to suggest that no one has ever used “He was like…” in a sentence before to suggest something someone might have been thinking. She also apologized on IG for that one. And Beckham literally said that it didn’t strike a nerve nor was he even aware of the situation. But I must have forgotten that no male comedian has ever crossed a line when talking about a woman and had to apologize for it. Lena Dunham is the only human being to ever do that.
omg that makes it the best movie of all time then, never mind. it had women and trans actors in it, there’s no longer any criticism of it which is valid
Suggesting it’s reductive to *only* discuss Dunham’s weight gain and to assume that the film was endorsing the relationship presented is not saying there’s no valid criticism. Pointing out that it is very relevant that she employed a fully female production crew and trans actors is also something that not a lot of people are doing. The fact that there is valid criticism doesn’t mean that there’s nothing of value to see in the production.
Does The Kinja Caffeine Spider still hate The Motherfucking Shore Patrol after all these long years, or is the Kinja Caffeine Spider willing to use his venom to draw The Motherfucking Shore Patrol out of “the grays” to add a little spice to this funeral feast of a website?
YES! How you doing?
Doing ok… spent several years as an educator/librarian, got thoroughly re-burnt out by the human race during the pandemic, joined the great resignation, now just making art and doing bio-consulting work from home in the middle of nowhere. How’ve you been?Good to see you’re still doing your thing in this…………………..place.
This place is just a burning husk of what it once was… All of these sites, it’s so depressing.
I also live in the middle of nowhere but while my wife works from home I have to commute. Other than that, all good.
Cool dude… am just sitting here trying to make sense of Kinja (a knight crossed with a ninja? And apparently only this group of sites uses it? And apparently you’re the only one who can see me? Or only I can see you seeing me, but I can’t see others who see me seeing themselves seeing me seeing you seeing the sea, see?)And to think I fled fearing that Disqus, of all things, would dampen the old vibe. Anyway, I ‘spect I’ll try poppin’ in again for House of the Rings and The Dragons of Power…
I might check this one out, but I’m really, really afraid Dunham will pop up in a cameo or supporting role somewhere.
…and then Birdy’s big sis Lena Called Loudmouth arrived to show her what to do with her va-jay-jay!
And based on the latest paparazzi photos I’ve seen, Dunham seems to have made it a goal to appear as gross on the outside, as she is on the inside.
So we’re making fun of people’s physical appearances now? Cool.
So recognitions took over dirtside’s account? Priceless.
Look, I wish recognitions would get eaten alive by a pack of rabid badgers as much as the next guy, but even a stopped clock is right twice a day.
Mate, that’s comparison’s an insult to horology.
Maybe adapting other people’s work forces her to curb her more…problematic impulses? But considering she redoes the ending, maybe not.
Next she’s doing Flowers In The Attic
That’s the raunchy Anne Frank biopic, right?
It could be.
Maybe but Shonda Rhimes made the Bridgerton books worse with her Grey’s Anatomy impulses. It is possible that Dunham knows this book holds a special place in millennials women’s hearts and realized she need to tone herself down. I was obsessed with this book as 9 year old and was not pleased when I heard Lena Dunham was taking it on. So the positive reviews are making me give it a chance.
Whenever I see a review for a new show, I skim it lightly so I don’t learn too much about the plot and can go in blind. Therefore, I go right to the box that gives the grade (A- in this case). But could you PLEASE add where to watch the show and when it’s coming out? Also, is it a movie? A tv series? A miniseries? Released all at once or weekly?
I have no idea if this Catherine show is out now or not, and which of the bajillion streaming services are carrying it when I can pirate it.
The word “film” is used, and the photo is credited “Prime Video”, but no, we really shouldn’t have to scour the page for this information.
Thanks, good finds. Because I skim the article I don’t always catch those little details, so yeah, it’d be great if they’d just put it in the summary box. Appreciate it!
I forgot why we hate Lena Dunham. Girls was a good show.
Whether it’s because her groundbreaking HBO series, Girls, ended in 2017, or she’s been suffering through a bout of creative stagnation, Dunham’s spot in the cultural conversation has taken a major hit.She’s not my favorite person, but she’s been directing and producing pretty steadily while also dealing with some pretty serious health issues including having to have a full hysterectomy in 2018 then getting sober while also writing this movie. But I guess pretending like she’s done nothing of consequence lets you sit at the cool kids table.
I had heard of her hysterectomy (during the discussion around Sharp Stick), but not getting sober.
She went to rehab in 2018 for prescription pills including Klonopin and opioids. She has referred to having a “pharmacy in her purse” during her 20s that was responsible for how thin she was then.
I expect this would come across as disrespectful, but there was a lot of critical commentary about her body while she was on Girls, and I don’t recall any of it saying she was too thin. Admittedly, I didn’t watch the show and thus didn’t read the recaps on sites like this one, but since there was so much discussion of it I still had some awareness.
She wasn’t specifically referring to when she was on Girls, but her weight definitely yo-yoed. I didn’t necessarily mean she was *too* thin, but it’s how she kept weight off. This was the comparison she posted and stated she’s 138 in one and 162 in the other:
Huh. Do you know if this period was before or after Girls?
Her IG post stated the picture on the left is from 2017 which would be from around the time the last season aired (keeping in mind her character was pregnant on that season it’s hard to tell if she lost weight afterwards or was thinner than she seemed during filming). This is a picture from around the time the finale aired:
But she has also talked about being between a size 8 – 12 on Girls and being treated like she was excessively large when she was actually much smaller than a lot of women. This came up when her character hooked up with Patrick Wilson.
I remember Patrick Wilson’s wife popping up to contradict the people who said he would never go for a woman that size.
the women from Girls were beholden to the mores and assumptions of 20th-century society
All of it took place in the 21st century.
What did the comma do to get cut from the adaptation?