It’s always hard to know what to expect next from Girls and Tiny Furniture auteur Lena Dunham, but surely “medieval period comedy based on a hugely popular YA novel” would have stumped even the most ambitious prognosticators. But that’s what we got, and now Catherine Called Birdy is streaming exclusively on Prime Video.
Adapted from the 1994 book by Maren Cushman, Catherine Called Birdy stars Bella Ramsey (you may remember her as the rather ruthless and ill-fated Lyanna Mormont in Game of Thrones) as the titular Catherine, aka Birdy, the youngest and most rebellious child of Lord Rollo (Andrew Scott) and Lady Aislinn (Billie Piper), living it up on her family estate circa 1290. Political and social realities intrude when she hits puberty and is faced with the prospect of being married off—dad has squandered the family fortune and a strategic pairing will shore up the finances nicely.
Unfortunately, the leading suitor is the odious Sir John Henry Murgaw VIII (Paul Kaye—another Game of Thrones alumni) nicknamed “Shaggy Beard”, which does not please our heroine one iota. What’s a headstrong girl trapped by medieval patriarchy to do?
Spritely, funny, and steeped in feminist themes, Catherine Called Birdy is a surprisingly good fit for Dunham as a filmmaker, who first read the source novel back in the day at the age of ten. Joe Alwyn (The Favourite), Sophie Okonedo (Dirty Pretty Things), Lesley Sharp (The Fully Monty), Dean-Charles Chapman (Game of Thrones again), Isis Hainsworth (Metal Lords), David Bradley (Game of Thrones again!), Ralph Ineson (now this is just getting silly…) and Russell Brand (Get Him to the Greek… and surprisingly not Game of Thrones) co-star. YA fans, period drama fans, and Game of Thrones fans who like the aesthetic but could do without the sex and violence—this one’s for you.
