She’s not even 40 years old and yet Greta Gerwig has lived a thousand lives: mother of mumblecore, veteran actor-turned-auteur writer/director, and normie star of a meme series. Energising a landscape starved of complex female narratives, she closed out the 2010s as a bonafide A-lister, having established herself as a defining voice in her generation of millennial filmmakers. Lena Dunham, but in the key of optimism.
For over a decade, Greta proved herself to be a sui generis screen presence in small budget independent films, imbuing roles with a unique charisma, wistfulness and whimsy. Her acclaimed screenplays map the odyssey from girlhood to womanhood and follow the spiralling contours of self-discovery during this transitional period. Her flawed protagonists are neither polarising girl bosses nor out-and-out girlfailures. Instead they are multifaceted, relatable young women who are simultaneously starry-eyed and self-sabotaging, passionate and cynical. And as a director, Greta consistently draws out previously unseen idiosyncrasies from well-known ensemble casts. Never didactic, but simply honest in her observations, her filmmaking builds funny, evocative emotional worlds.
In celebration of her vast catalogue of acting, writing, and directing credits ahead of the release of Barbie, here’s every Greta Gerwig film, ranked.
31. To Rome With Love (2012)
Not so much offbeat as just off, these are the cold leftovers of Midnight In Paris (2011) and Greta’s character exists only to service her boyfriend’s character arc. The film’s vignette plots include: an opera singer, a lukewarm romance, and an ordinary man who suddenly becomes famous. If you’re looking for a magical realism tale set in the Eternal City about singing, love, and navigating a new and confounding celebrity identity, I suggest The Lizzie McGuire Movie (2003) instead.
30. Isle of Dogs (2018)
Wes Anderson returns to the impressive medium of stop-motion animation to tell a story of pure Occidental projection. For all the signature pedantry of his hyper-stylized mise-en-scène, Isle of Dogs’ Japanese setting emerges as total caricature. The ignorance of white characters is presented as virtue, and this extends to Greta’s Tracy.
29. Arthur (2011)
Remember that era when Russell Brand inexplicably had Hollywood execs under some type of spell that allowed him to front big studio comedies? This grating remake is an unfortunate product of that wild time in culture.
28. You Won’t Miss Me (2009)
As this insufferable drama about a self-proclaimed pariah holds you in a vice grip, Greta’s cameo comes as a sweet release.
27. LOL (2006)
In this mumblecore indie about the internet’s capacity to inspire apathy and isolation in men, Greta makes her acting debut. Alexa, play The Man Who Married A Robot by The 1975.
26. Northern Comfort (2010)
The budding connection between the unsentimental travellers, played by Greta and Rod Webber is intriguing, but this improvised DIY film lacks a clear thesis, rendering its characters too elusive.
25. The House of the Devil (2009)
From the horror savant behind X (2022) and Pearl (2022), this slasher revolves around a woman’s babysitting job revealing unexpected demands (a meditation of the traps of the gig economy perhaps). Greta plays the voice-of-reason friend who flags the ominous vibes early-on.
24. Art House (2010)
Greta was ahead of her time here playing the lead influencer in an Obama-era Content House.
23. Quick Feet, Soft Hands (2008)
As a disillusioned WAG, Greta’s character realises, sometimes, there is crying in baseball.
22. Hannah Takes the Stairs (2007)
With verve, Gerwig plays a young woman embarking on a summer of trial-and-error romance in this deliberately awkward micro-budget indie.
21. Nights and Weekends (2008)
In this impartial and unposed mumblecore drama tracking a relationship under strain, Greta’s giving cinéma vérité baby!
20. No Strings Attached (2011)
A prosaic outlier in Greta’s body of roles, this romcom doesn’t provoke much emotional investment, but when was that never not the case with an Ashton Kutcher movie, really?
19. Baghead (2008)
Greta stars in this unorthodox comedy that boldly investigates what would happen if there was a loitering figure at your window with a paper bag over their head, à la Thomas Pynchon. Situating movie-makers in a secluded location and blurring lines of reality with its mise en abyme, it makes for a fitting double feature alongside Black Bear (2020).
18. Lola Versus (2012)
In this wobbly romcom buttressed by a robust cast (including The Bear’s Ebon Moss-Bachrach), Greta plays Lola, a young woman journeying the recovery of self after her fiancé abruptly leaves her.
17. The Humbling (2014)
I must confess I am an apologist for Pacino’s now-quarter-century run of mediocre films. Here, under the direction of Barry Levinson (who, for the benefit of younger readers, is the outperforming daddio to failson Sam Levinson), he plays an ageing actor character having an affair with an uninhibited Greta, several decades his junior.
16. Yeast (2008)
A film about toxic queens joining together to maximise their joint toxic slay. Bear with the rough cinematography and you’ll be rewarded with a Safdie Brothers cameo and a layered performance from Greta that chillingly switches between an open, exuberant personality and a detached, recalcitrant one.
15. The Dish and The Spoon (2010)
The quirky dispositions of Greta and Olly Alexander perfectly compliment each other as they play a pair of lost souls temporarily finding meaning in each other. Big Submarine (2010) vibes.
14. Wiener-Dog (2016)
This dark comedy about an itinerant Dachshund perverts expectations in many ways, not limited to Greta playing a woman in STEM (she’s almost exclusively embodied liberal-arts girlies her whole career!).
13. Greenberg (2010)
Greta just about skirts manic-pixie dream girl status here as her character rehabilitates Ben Stiller from his desultory funk: he’s not a cynical zoomer or a cringe millennial, but a secret third thing: a Gen X man in stasis.
12. Damsels in Distress (2011)
In this is a twee, farcical tale about gender dynamics in a collegiate dating pool, expect delicious one liners from Greta (such as the declaration, before entering a frat house, that “there’s enough material here for a lifetime of social work”) and cameos from Adam Brody, Aubrey Plaza and Billy Magnuessun – Game Night stans, rise up!
11. Jackie (2016)
This funereal picture presents America’s most famous widow grappling with duty and an invasive, unforgiving media. Greta is a heartening presence as a bright secretary, prepping Jackie O for her close-up.
10. Eden (2014)
Greta briefly cameos in this intoxicating ode to the unsparing artistic pursuit. Think We Are Your Friends (2015), but French, and good. TBH we need more cautionary tales about DJs.
9. White Noise (2022)
Concerned with mortality in all its forms, this film beats a sombre drum, but makes sure to frequently clash its cymbal of silly too: see an absurd intellectual dance-off that positions Hitler and Elvis as comparative figures. Also, Greta sports a killer 80s perm, defiantly refusing to let a looming toxic cloud fuck with her active ingredient!
8. Maggie’s Plan (2015)
Minds change and attractions zig-zag in this veritable slay from nepo baby Rebecca Miller, daughter of thee Arthur. Greta’s scheming is so compelling, I actively endorse her character’s deceit.
7. 20th Century Women (2016)
Succoured by two other female figures (one of whom is a punk Greta!), a single mother raising a teenage son attempts to balance tough love with tenderness, and instruction with independence. With sharp wisdom scattered throughout an amorphous narrative, this dreamy dramedy is stingingly perceptive, providing insight into the emotional growing pains of different generations.
6. Mistress America (2015)
The life Greta and Noah Baumbach breathe into the world via their zany, witty characters is so rich that the real-life couple need not have actual kids! In this instance they have crafted headstrong step-sisters who hilariously blunt each other’s sharp edges.
5. The Meyerowitz Stories (2017)
This family dramedy is the definitive depiction of the adage “can’t live with them, can’t live without them”. While Greta exists in the film only via the speaker of her husband’s phone — à la Laura Dern in The White Lotus — it is Adam Sandler who soars as the story’s MVP, utterly delightful in gentle dad mode.
4. Frances Ha (2012)
This soul-baring cult classic is the preeminent quarter-life crisis film. Inarguably Greta’s acting magnum opus, she balances heavy pathos and bright humour in one sincere smile. Skipping through New York in black and white as David Bowie blasts, it’s the purest distillation of 2012 hipster monoculture.
3. Little Women (2019)
When I bemoan reboots, just know I’m never referring to this; Greta brought heart to the multiplex! As the sixth film adaptation of Louisa May Alcott’s seminal novel, her punch-up is remarkably distinct. Memorably, hope erodes on rolling hills as a declined marriage proposal leaves both parties bereft, and we see Jo March’s indomitable spirit and self-sufficiency belie her growing loneliness and yearning for love. Showing flair in choosing to craft a non-linear narrative, Greta’s temporal switch-ups make this elegy for childhood that much more emotive.
2. Lady Bird (2017)
In Greta’s tour de force directorial debut, the bright vistas of her native Sacramento, California form the backdrop for a profoundly affecting portrait of a distant mother and daughter dynamic. Lady Bird doesn’t exist in the brutal female rage genre, but it sensitively honours the frustrations of teenage girls in a cathartically relatable way (a Gerwigian coming of age collection has taken shape, with Lady Bird, Little Women and Frances Ha forming a stirring triptych that celebrates brave surrender to change).
1. Barbie (2023)
On the surface, a Warner Bros-distributed, live-action iteration of an existing franchise seems incongruent with Greta’s regular ingenuity, and intimate style; but promising early reviews help collapse such fears of commercial sell-out and artistic demise. Showing a healthy desire for variety in traversing a new genre, she’s simply in her Spielberg era, your honour. But what the fuck is it actually about? Its enigma has the internet agog. I suspect Susan Sontag’s estate will re-release Notes on Camp with a new essay in light of Ryan Gosling’s nuanced turn as the traditionally vapid Ken: How himboism went arthouse. I respect the scale of its garish ambition so much that, despite the fact I am still yet to see it, it’s earned the number one spot on this list. Barbie will save cinema.