Aside from the near constant projection of her inner thoughts as voice over, there’s also a steady drip of contemporary pop songs rearranged to sound like Medieval ballads. Each has a unique perspective on her plight, and offers advice that she has to parse out in order to figure out how to make peace with the fate the patriarchy demands she accept.Īs writer and director, Dunham works overtime to liven up the period piece setting with an overabundance of techniques and devices meant to keep Birdy in a state of perpetual motion.

In the midst of it all, she seeks advice and example from her close circle including best friend, Aelis (Isis Hainsworth) favorite Uncle George (Joe Alwyn) and his older bride Ethelfritha (Sophie Okonedo) nursemaid, Morwenna (Lesley Sharp) and peasant bestie, Perkin (Michael Woolfitt). Kicking and screaming (literally), Birdy finds herself unceremoniously thrown into the marital pool, being introduced to a range of potential suitors, all of whom she works overtime attempting to care off. But she’s forced to face it head on when she has her first period and then soon after finds out that her father has mismanaged their finances and is in dire need of revenue so they don’t lose their property. While Birdy is rather smart, she’s never been interested in the details of how that might actually apply to her.

Being a daughter in 1290 means Birdy’s real value comes to bear when she hits puberty, as that’s the time when she can be married off to any man willing to pay her family a healthy dowry. The youngest and wildest child of Lord Rollo (Andrew Scott) and Lady Aislinn (Billie Piper), Birdy spends her days running free amongst her family’s rural estate of Stonebridge Manor. Like Cushman’s book, the cinematic version of Catherine Called Birdy is also told in diary style in the literal voice of precocious 14-year-old Lady Catherine, or Birdy (Bella Ramsey). But for everyone else who may be far more ambivalent, director/writer Lena Dunham makes some wise choices meant to entice contemporary eyes to her rambunctious and appealing take on the tale. Among the only assured audiences are fans of novelist Karen Cushman’s award-winning YA book Catherine Called Birdy, who will likely flock to this adaptation. No matter how you spin it, getting tweens and teens who aren’t readers to give a live-action period piece the time of day is a hard sell.

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