Little Women: Greta Gerwig's Raw, Startling “Little Women”

Composing herself, and pausing to gather her wits, Jo March (Saoirse Ronan) waits at the door of an office.

She has come to see a newspaper editor named Dashwood (Tracy Letts), hoping to sell him a story.

Such is Jo’s delight that, on leaving the office, she doesn’t—or can’t—walk home in a manner befitting a young lady.

So begins “Little Women,” a new adaptation of Louisa May Alcott’s novel.

It’s one thing to be a little woman because you are not yet grown; quite another to be belittled by the larger world.