“I am dying, it is plain to see.” Catherine (Bella Ramsey)
Although that is the cry of 14-year-old medieval English Catherine greeting her first period, it is the cry of all young girls meeting womanhood, a blend of suffering and mystery and finally joy should it mean a child can be in the future. Writer/director Lena Dunham has crafted a rollicking YA story, set in 1290, of a feisty young girl who could fight amd survive in any century where independence and equality are her motivations.
Although Catherine Called Birdy is derived from Karen Cushman’s novel, it is a universally charming oft-told tale of a modestly good-looking rebel who fights the medieval tradition of marrying off young females to improve the family lot through money and title. The egregious gender-role motif is prevalent but with Dunham’s light touch.
Catherine fights her indolent yet likeable dad, Lord Rollo (Andrew Scott, so effective he was as Moriarty in Sherlock), when he attempts to remedy his flagrant abuse of their fortune by marrying her off. Catherine shouts, “Your villagers are allowed to marry where they will, but your daughter is sold like a cheese for your profit.”
Catherine’s cheeky voiceover narration (evocative of Heath Ledger’s A Knight’s Tale and Pippi Longstocking) from a diary she keeps for her monk brother is an endearing feature of this, dare I call it, romcom: About kissing, she opines, “Might it not be as vile as we once thought?” Acknowledging being saved from a marriage to old “Shaggy Beard,” she exclaims, “My gratitude does not mean I have lost my fight.” A quick-witted fighter she is.
Her teen-age rebellion echoes down the centuries, as true today as it was almost a millennia ago. For adults, Catherine Called Birdy is a romp in witty language and ancient mores, recreated with loving good cheer from a spirited woman much of our time, Lena Dunham.
On Prime Video
Catherine Called Birdy
Director: Lena Dunham (Sharp Stick)
Screenplay: Dunham, from book by Karen Cushman
Cast: Bella Ramsey (Judy)
Run Time: 1h 48 m
Rating: PG-13
