Lady Bird: contexts and key sequences

Lady Bird (Greta Gerwig, 2017): Christine 'Lady Bird' McPherson, in her final year at a Catholic school in Sacramento in 2002–03, clashes with her mother Marion over her wish to go to college on the East Coast, while working through friendships, relationships and her family's money worries.
Greta Gerwig's first film as sole director, a small independent production that earned her an Academy Award nomination for Best Director.
Set after 9/11 and during the Iraq War, with class and money in a lower-middle-class family.
Key sequences to know in detail: the opening car journey with her mother, the college decisions, and the ending in New York.
Cinematography and mise-en-scène: a soft, grainy image meant to feel like memory, close-ups set against long shots, Lady Bird's dyed hair and school uniform, and the contrasting houses.
Editing and sound: quick cutting between faces in arguments, sharp dialogue, songs of the early 2000s, and cross-cutting in the final scene.
The few short lines of dialogue that matter most in these sequences, a few words each.
A short worked paragraph analysing one key sequence with precise film terms.
Worked answers with their marks, and practice questions to try, each headed 'Practice question' with its marks.
Quote only short lines of dialogue you're sure of, a few words at a time, and base every point on what happens in the finished film.

What you need to know