In the Medieval English village of Stonebridge, Lady Catherine (known as Birdy) is the youngest child of Lord Rollo and the Lady Aislinn. Her playground is Stonebridge Manor, a house that, like the family, has seen better days. Financially destitute and utterly greedy, Rollo sees his daughter as his path out of financial ruin by marrying her off to a wealthy man for money and land. But Birdy, like all the great teen heroines, is spirited, clever and adventurous — and ready to put off any suitor that comes calling in increasingly ingenious ways. Her imagination, defiance and deep belief in her own right to independence put her on a collision course with her parents. When the most vile suitor of all arrives, they are presented with the ultimate test of love for their daughter in director Lena Dunham’s delightfully anachronistic adaptation of Karen Cushman’s lauded 1994 children’s novel.
“…So good, so raucous and wild and wise and witty, that it not only makes me eager to write in alliterative adjectives, but to reconsider my views on everything else she’s made in recent years. It’s wonderful.” —Kate Erbland, IndieWire “As with most of her work, the real star of the show is Dunham, whose sharp dialogue and direction equips every actor with an acidic tongue and knowing gaze.... Dunham’s direction is breezy and calm, divorced from the melancholic tone and devastating brutality we’ve come to associate with stories set in this time.” —Jourdain Searles, Hollywood Reporter “Leave it to “Girls” creator Lena Dunham to deliver what’s been missing from the field of princess movies all these years: namely, permission for young women to be themselves, regardless of what their parents or the patriarchy might think…. A genially impertinent feature-length celebration of not always doing what you’re told.” —Peter Debruge, Critics Pick, Variety
