美国国家公共电台 NPR Actor Greta Gerwig Stays Behind The Camera In Her Solo-Directing Debut 'Lady Bird'

 

KELLY MCEVERS, HOST:

Greta Gerwig is mostly known as an actor. But for her latest comedy, she stayed behind the camera. The movie is called "Lady Bird." She wrote and directed it. It makes sense since, as NPR critic Bob Mondello says, it is loosely based on her own life.

BOB MONDELLO, BYLINE¹: High school senior Christine McPherson has all the usual insecurities of someone her age, but no one would ever accuse her of lacking confidence.

(SOUNDBITE OF FILM, "LADY BIRD")

JAKE MCDORMAN: (As Mr. Bruno) Lady Bird, is that your given name?

SAOIRSE RONAN: (As Christine McPherson) Yeah.

MCDORMAN: (As Mr. Bruno) Why is it in quotes?

RONAN: (As Christine McPherson) I gave it to myself. It's given to me by me.

MONDELLO: She throws herself into things - running for class president, auditioning² for the school musical though she can't sing, chasing after a rich kid who is so not for her and bringing him home to meet her folks of whom she's kind of ashamed.

(SOUNDBITE OF FILM, "LADY BIRD")

LUCAS HEDGES: (As Danny O'Neill) Lady bird always says that she lives on the wrong side of the tracks, but I always thought that that was, like, a metaphor³. But there are actual train tracks.

MONDELLO: Lady Bird dreams big, bigger than her family can afford, bigger than her mother will sit still for on a college campus road trip that starts the film.

(SOUNDBITE OF FILM, "LADY BIRD")

RONAN: (As Christine McPherson) I want to go where culture is like New York...

LAURIE METCALF: (As Marion McPherson) How in the world did I raise such a snob⁴?

RONAN: (As Christine McPherson) ...Or at least Connecticut or New Hampshire where writers live in the woods.

METCALF: (As Marion McPherson) Well, you couldn't get into those schools anyway.

RONAN: (As Christine McPherson) Mom.

METCALF: (As Marion McPherson) You should just go to City College. You know, with your work ethic⁵, just go to City College and then to jail and then back to City College. And then maybe you'd learn to pull yourself up and not expect everybody to do everything. (Screaming).

MONDELLO: The girl who throws herself into things has just thrown herself out of a moving car. Saoirse Ronan plays Lady Bird as if she'd been following writer-director Greta Gerwig around all her life - mannerisms and liberated⁶ worldview fully⁷ internalized. Her mom is played by Laurie Metcalf, and the film makes sure you see the family resemblance even when they're just shopping for a party dress.

(SOUNDBITE OF FILM, "LADY BIRD")

METCALF: (As Marion McPherson) You're not going to a funeral.

RONAN: (As Christine McPherson) Well, I don't know. What says rich people Thanksgiving?

METCALF: (As Marion McPherson) I just think it's such a shame that you're spending your last Thanksgiving with a family you've never met instead of us. But I guess you want it that way. Are you tired?

RONAN: (As Christine McPherson) No.

METCALF: (As Marion McPherson) Because if you're tired, we can sit down.

RONAN: (As Christine McPherson) I'm not tired.

METCALF: (As Marion McPherson) Oh, OK. I just couldn't tell because you were dragging your feet.

RONAN: (As Christine McPherson) Why didn't you just say pick up your feet?

METCALF: (As Marion McPherson) I didn't know if you were tired.

RONAN: (As Christine McPherson) You were being passive-aggressive.

METCALF: (As Marion McPherson) No, I wasn't.

RONAN: (As Christine McPherson) You are so infuriating.

METCALF: (As Marion McPherson) Please stop yelling.

RONAN: (As Christine McPherson) I'm not yelling. Oh, it's perfect.

METCALF: (As Marion McPherson) Honey, do you love it?

MONDELLO: Turning on a dime⁸ emotionally - a fact of adolescent life seen here through a specifically female gaze. Gerwig crams⁹ this tale with pain, generosity¹⁰, a delicately awkward grace and such abundant laughs that it may only register after the fact that "Lady Bird" is a striking piece of feminist¹¹ filmmaking. I'm Bob Mondello.

(SOUNDBITE OF THE MONKEES SONG, "AS WE GO ALONG")

1 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

2 auditioning   

vi.试听（audition的现在分词形式）

参考例句：

• She was auditioning for the role of Lady Macbeth. 她试演了麦克佩斯夫人的角色。
• Which part are you auditioning for? 你试音什么角色？ 来自《简明英汉词典》

3 metaphor   

n.隐喻，暗喻

参考例句：

• Using metaphor,we say that computers have senses and a memory.打个比方，我们可以说计算机有感觉和记忆力。
• In poetry the rose is often a metaphor for love.玫瑰在诗中通常作为爱的象征。

4 snob   

n.势利小人，自以为高雅、有学问的人

参考例句：

• Going to a private school had made her a snob.上私立学校后，她变得很势利。
• If you think that way, you are a snob already.如果你那样想的话，你已经是势利小人了。

5 ethic   

n.道德标准，行为准则

参考例句：

• They instilled the work ethic into their children.他们在孩子们的心中注入了职业道德的理念。
• The connotation of education ethic is rooted in human nature's mobility.教育伦理的内涵根源于人本性的变动性。

6 liberated   

a.无拘束的，放纵的

参考例句：

• The city was liberated by the advancing army. 军队向前挺进，解放了那座城市。
• The heat brings about a chemical reaction, and oxygen is liberated. 热量引起化学反应，释放出氧气。

7 fully   

adv.完全地，全部地，彻底地；充分地

参考例句：

• The doctor asked me to breathe in,then to breathe out fully.医生让我先吸气，然后全部呼出。
• They soon became fully integrated into the local community.他们很快就完全融入了当地人的圈子。

8 dime   

n.（指美国、加拿大的钱币）一角

参考例句：

• A dime is a tenth of a dollar.一角银币是十分之一美元。
• The liberty torch is on the back of the dime.自由火炬在一角硬币的反面。

9 crams   

v.塞入( cram的第三人称单数 )；填塞；塞满；（为考试而）死记硬背功课

参考例句：

• Have you seen the way he crams food down his throat? 你见过他那狼吞虎咽的样子吗？ 来自互联网
• He crams his ducks with cornmeal every day. 他每天用玉米面填饱他的鸭子。 来自互联网

10 generosity   

n.大度，慷慨，慷慨的行为

参考例句：

• We should match their generosity with our own.我们应该像他们一样慷慨大方。
• We adore them for their generosity.我们钦佩他们的慷慨。

11 feminist   

adj.主张男女平等的，女权主义的

参考例句：

• She followed the feminist movement.她支持女权运动。
• From then on,feminist studies on literature boomed.从那时起，男女平等受教育的现象开始迅速兴起。