Author: gianni_avilan

The following is the final scene in Greta Gerwig’s 2017 film, Lady Bird:

Medium shot

Medium close-up

Extreme close-up

Medium shot

Medium (reverse) shot

Medium close-up

Medium (reverse) close-up

Medium close-up

Long shot

Long shot

Long shot

Long shot

Long shot

Extreme long shot

Pan

Long shot

Close-up

Medium long shot

Extreme long shot (over the shoulder)

Medium close-up

Medium long shot

Extreme long shot (landscape)

Extreme long shot (landscape)

Medium shot

Medium close up

Long shot (landscape)

Extreme long shot (landscape)

Medium close-up

Medium shot

One of my favorite aspects of Gerwig’s Lady Bird is how it breathes; that is, how the camera moves in and out, around its subject, never losing sight of it, never staying in one place, but remaining natural throughout.

This final scene is a perfect example. We begin with medium shot that frames the title character as she wakes in a hospital. Then, the camera shifts inward toward her face, cutting away briefly to show us the wristband bearing her given name (not chosen name) in extreme close up, and then back to Lady Bird.

Gerwig then shows us the scene across from Lady Bird, a mother comforting her injured child. I love the framing in this short scene — its shot as if Lady Bird and the child are conversing (shot reverse shot), and yet there is no dialogue — only expression from the actors’ faces.

We shift then to Lady Bird’s long walk across the city, which is presented with a series of identically framed shots, cut to show us the passage of space and time.

Finally, Lady Bird enters a church, and we see the only frame that doesn’t contain her; a quick pan up to the building she’s entering. We see her walk up the stairs, and then a similar, wordless conversation with the choir that sings inside the church.

Finally, as she walks outside and calls her mother, Gerwig alternates between views of Lady Bird and her hometown (a central theme throughout the film), first showing us the landscape, and then Lady Bird herself in the landscape (presumably in memory), finally settling on an unremarkable medium shot, before a cut to black.

I love Gerwig’s focus on Lady Bird throughout this entire scene; even though she occassionally cuts away to something different, or varies the length and framing of her shots, it never feels performative or distracting. It gives us all the information we need without drawing attention to itself, and centers the subject within the larger frame of the scene, and ultimately, the entire film, by juxtaposing her against the major story elements that have concerned her throughout — her mother, her name, and her hometown.