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Up until now, you'd have been hard pushed to find a film that adequately conveys the incredibly traumatic experience of being 17 years old. Between surviving the year before university, that turbulent relationship with your mum, desperately fancying the most unattainable person at school and disproportionately relying on that one best friend to be there for it all - it was all so much. Too much, I thought, to convey on screen in a way that feels truly relatable.
But then Lady Bird came along. The film is Greta Gerwig's directoral debut, stars the wonderful Saoirse Ronan and has earned the pair of them a whole host of award wins and nominations this year. It's a big deal for so many reasons, one of which being how brilliantly it portrays the tired coming-of-age story without relying on the narrow 'angsty, mis-understood teenager' stereotype we've come to know too well.
Which is why you'll be completely enamored by lead character Christine, who prefers to go by the name Lady Bird. She's everything, she's all of us and she's really funny.
Before the cinema release of the film, we sat down with Saoirse Ronan who plays Lady Bird to find out just what it is about her character that resonates so pertinently with us all.
'She's the type of person who's okay with not having all the answers', Saorise explains. 'She's okay with figuring stuff out and finding her way and, actually, there's no shame in failing or falling on your face because she just picks herself up and moves on.
'I think she's genuinely curious as well, and she is a bit of a rebel. She's more of a rebel than I ever was and even playing her I thought, "oh, she's really cool"'.
What's also pretty apt is that Lady Bird lives a social media-free teenage life that many of us will remember relatively fondly. 'The great thing about it being set in 2002 is that you have to phone someone from a landline in order to arrange to meet up with them, or write letters', Saorise says. But beyond the joyous nostalgic value of watching the lead character muddle through life with the same, analogue methods that we had to rely on, Saorise's character unashamedly lives the tricky aspects of adolescence that we'd otherwise look back and cringe at.
We've ditched a loyal best friend to try and fit in with the cool crowd, we've lied about something seemingly minute only for it to blow up in our faces and upset the people around us, we've risked everything for the sake of some idiot crush only to realise at the most inconvenient of moments that actually, they're not worth it at all. For better or worse, we've all been where Lady Bird has been. And this film is one of the few that'll make you actually want to be seventeen again.
Lady Bird is in cinemas nationwide from 23 February
READ MORE: Films By Female Directors To Be Excited About In 2018
Debrief Films By Female Directors To Be Excited About In 2018
1 of 81. A Wrinkle In Time
Based on the book of the same name by Madeleine L'Engle, a movie adaptation directed by Ava DuVernay is on the way and if you haven't watched the trailer/seen that incredible Time magazine cover, you need to get on board because it's really exciting. It's a fantasy adventure film starring Oprah, Mindy Kaling and Reese Witherspoon and with this film Ava DuVernay has become the fourth woman and first African American woman to direct a film with a budget of more than $100 million. 23 March 2018
2 of 82. The Spy Who Dumped Me
Directed by Susanna Fogel, The Spy Who Dumped me is a comedy with Mila Kunis and Kate McKinnon starring as BFFs who find out that the guy who dumped one of them is - wait for it- a spy. At the moment we know very little else about the film beyond the fact that Mila wears a blond wig at some point but we'll keep you posted.
3 of 83. Lady Bird
Greta Gerwig's directorial debut comes in the form of Lady Bird, the already hotly anticipated coming of age story that we all wish existed back when we were still in school. In short, it's a beautiful film about a young woman who likes to go by the name Lady Bird who is trying to navigate all of the usual suspects: her mother, her best friend, going to college, sex and, well, herself. 16 February 2018
4 of 84. Blockers
Kay Cannon who wrote the screenplays for the Pitch Perfect films is the director behind this comedy about three parents who find out about their daughters' plan to have sex on Prom night (otherwise referred to as a Sex Pact, apparently) and try to stop it happening. ILeslie Mann is in it and she's great. 6 April 2018
5 of 85. The Darkest Minds
This is another book adaptation that you're going to want to get familiar with real quick. Directed by Jennifer Yuh Nelson and starring the incredible Mandy Moore, Amandla Stenberg and Gwendoline Crisitie, The Darkest Minds is all about the 2% of kids in America who survive a crazy disease and end up developing superpowers. It's got a bit of a Hunger Games meets Divergent vibe if you ask me. 14 December 2018
6 of 86. Can You Ever Forgive Me
Get ready for another dose of comedy fave Melissa McCarthy in this Marielle Heller directed project. She stars as the best-selling celebrity biographer Lee Israel (the film's based on her memoir, you see) who was well known for profiling big shots like Katherine Hepburn and Estee Lauder back in the 70s and 80s. That ism until she lost her groove and ended up selling forged letters and stuff. October 2018
7 of 87. High Life
Celebrated French director Claire Denis has only gone and directed her first English language movie. It's a sci-fi drama starring none other than Robert Pattinson, Juliette Binoche and Mia Goth and pretty much focuses on a group of convicts who are sent to explore a black hole (knowing that they probably won't be returning from space alive) in return for having their jail sentences reduced. It's about a father-daughter relationship, it's about family, it's about home, it's about the unknown.
8 of 88. You Were Never Really Here
And finally we have a thriller directed by Lynne Ramsay that promises to be the sort of thing that lingers in your mind for a while after watching. You Were Never Really Here is about a private 'contractor' who is tasked with recovering a teenage girl who's gone missing. It's pretty dark and violent and intense but packed a resounding punch at Cannes last year. 9 March 2018
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This article originally appeared on The Debrief.