4. Her Name is Lady Bird
I feel the entire opening montage should be it’s own entry, so here I’m going to focus on the first 20 seconds of minute 4, right up until the above, wonderful, shot.
One thing I definitely want to track during all this is which name Marion uses when. She’ll call her daughter “Lady Bird” later in the movie (and for what its worth, it’s how the script refers to her as well until its final pages) but now that the knives are out and the insults are flying, she uses her daughter’s birth name as a weapon, one that cuts deep.
“My name is Lady Bird” “Well actually it’s not and it’s ridiculous, your name is Christine.”
Attempting a full trans reading on this element of the movie is fraught, especially because of how it ends, but the issue of preferred names versus given ones is definitely one I feel so keenly. Ever since I decided to lop two letters off my birth name, the full version has never felt right to me. And even though she will embrace the nominal gift her mother gave her at the end of the movie, right now that name doesn’t feel right to Lady Bird, and it’s a basic human right to accept that.
I have no specific idea why Lady Bird adopts the same nickname of the wife of a US President, and the movie does not feel the need to elaborate. I get it though. Teens are weird. What better way to stand out and try to forge your own identity, away from your mother’s influence, than by taking on a nickname that is as elaborate as it is theatrical.
That said, I understand Marion’s anger over the rejection of the name she chose. It’s yet another way for Lady Bird to distance herself from her mother, to embrace the east coast writer in the woods within her rather than the Sacramento bound daughter with a safe, reliable future Marion is hoping she’ll be.
She will certainly stay close to home if she goes “to city college, then to JAIL, then back to city college”. What a great line. Metcalf’s equal parts spiteful and brusque delivery really sells it. The way she hits “JAIL” with the tone of a mother who has delivered this hyperbole 100 times before, always with a bit of her maybe thinking it’s a real possibility, really good work there.
Right before and after that line there’s more talk of “work ethic”. Resentment of class, resentment of those who have, resentment of how much effort she needs to put in every day just to stay afloat, once again taken out on her daughter in this argument. Won’t be the last time.
And during this rambling, suddenly Lady Bird is out of the car.
In a cursory search I couldn’t find any behind the scenes footage of that stunt specifically, which I’m bummed about. I would love to see Ronan rehearse the movement. It’s so sudden, decisive, and fearless, perfectly in line with the character in that moment. A wonderful jolt of energy to take us right into the opening titles.
Also energetic is of course Metcalf’s accompanying scream. The look of horror on her face is truly priceless.
More than just funny on its own, this moment is a great button on a scene that could have gone on forever. With all the basics of Lady Bird and Marion’s relationship and the themes underpinning Lady Bird’s arc laid out in under three and a half minutes, there’s no more new territory to explore in that context (just territory that will be re-explored in different contexts over the rest of the movie). It’s time to keep moving.
The emergency “get out of this scene” rip cord that is the jump out of the car is perfectly earned, not just on a screenwriting mechanics level, but from character as well. If she can’t escape from her mom by going to New York yet, Lady Bird can at least escape the car in the most dramatic way imaginable.
“Fuck You Mom” indeed. Well, at least she won’t always feel that way, the cast will come off eventually.
