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The Guardian - US
The Guardian - US
Entertainment
Vivian Ho

‘Sometimes you just need a good cry’: why Little Women is my feelgood movie

The cast of Little Women, 1994
At its core, Little Women is a letter to girlhood and a coming-of-age tale about four March sisters growing up in New England during the civil war. Photograph: United Archives GmbH/Alamy

I have an ongoing argument with some friends about how I refuse to watch Interstellar again, despite considering it a beautiful and well-crafted film. It’s just so sad, I tell them, even with its hopeful ending. A desperate, choking lump forms in my chest as soon as I hear the futuristic swells of Hans Zimmer’s score and I have to remove myself before I am overtaken by emotion.

But at the same time, the movie I choose as my feelgood film is one that has reduced me to a sobbing, snotty mess time and time again, whether I’m watching it curled up with my cat on the couch, swaddled in blankets while sick in bed or jostling with my seatmate for the armrest on an airplane. And just like with the score from Interstellar, the moment I hear Thomas Newman’s wistful little oboe intro of the 1994 version of Little Women, I can feel my eyes well up with tears.

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