Given her association with portraying the challenges of contemporary women, Lena Dunham might be the last person you’d expect to be behind the camera on Amazon Prime Video’s Medieval-set Catherine Called Birdy. But this perky teen comedy bristles with all the life and energy of the generation-marking works that made Dunham’s name. She’s not cowered by the demands of making a film on a bigger canvas, always locating where she can let her wit and wisdom shine through.
CATHERINE CALLED BIRDY: STREAM IT OR SKIP IT?
The Gist: 14-year-old Catherine (Bella Ramsey), affectionately dubbed Birdy for all the avian pets she keeps, quickly learns the limits of being a strong-willed young woman in Medieval England. She’s got an indomitable spirit and piquant wit that bristles against the society in which she finds herself. Birdy particularly clashes with her mother Lady Aislinn (Billie Piper), who just wants her to be polite, and her father Lord Rollo (Andrew Scott), a slightly aloof patriarch with his mind set on marrying off his daughter for status. But the film doesn’t dwell on the pains of being a person ahead of their time, instead finding avenues for Birdy’s joyous expressions of resistance and droll, diaristic observations of the world around her.
What Movies Will It Remind You Of?: The most recent and perhaps familiar example of a film to do the “contemporary teen attitudes transposed into a period setting” is the poppy 2020 adaptation of Jane Austen’s Emma. But Lena Dunham’s perfect distillation of the punkish attitude of irreverent youth taps into timeless energy, so it will also recall films set in more familiar environs like Clueless, Easy A, or The Edge of Seventeen.
Performance Worth Watching: Not unlike how Dunham orchestrated a full cast of colorful characters in her TV series Girls, having to pick a single performance out of such a memorable bunch is like picking a favorite child. Among the supporting players, Joe Alwyn playing a heartthrob unaware of his foolishness is a real standout, as is Andrew Scott as Birdy’s fickle father. But the real star of the show is clearly Bella Ramsey in the titular role, sucking us into the character’s thoughts and feelings through quippy voice-over narration and committed physical comedy. Ramsey masterfully captures the chief contradiction of Birdy — she’s smart enough to describe everything going on around her but necessarily mature enough to understand it.
Memorable Dialogue: Dunham’s crackling script is so full of zingers and one-liners that, again, singling out one feels impossible. Catherine Called Birdy is one of those films that will only improve with repeated watches because viewers can catch lines they missed the first time around. A quintessential Birdy quote that does lodge in the brain on the first go-round is a turn of phrase that could serve as her motto: “My leave would be short-lived, but my rebellion would be forever.”
Sex and Skin: Because Catherine Called Birdy is so committed to maintaining the childlike point-of-view of its protagonist, there’s no sex to be seen. However, there’s plenty of oblique talk and references to an adult world Birdy is only just beginning to understand. (There’s a familiar “birds and bees” style talk that gets a medieval rendering as “sword and box.”)
Our Take: If you’ve hopped off the Lena Dunham train at any time in the last decade, time to hop back on board. Catherine Called Birdy is an absolute delight that once again flexes her insightful and humorous perspective on human behavior. Dunham pitches the energy of the film perfectly between speaking to viewers in Birdy’s shoes and resonating with those who made it past her state of shattered naivete.
Our Call: STREAM IT! Catherine Called Birdy is a welcome addition to the coming-of-age comedic canon. It’s sweet, sincere, and sizzlingly funny. Whether Birdy is dealing with family or friends, romance or society, she’s got something to say — and something to teach us.
Marshall Shaffer is a New York-based freelance film journalist. In addition to Decider, his work has also appeared on Slashfilm, Slant, Little White Lies and many other outlets. Some day soon, everyone will realize how right he is about Spring Breakers.
