But one is a stranger, a woman she notices while she sits on a bench, gathering herself. Itâs a type of woman she has never seen before, because there are no old women in Barbieland. When Barbie looks at her, she finds her beautiful and tells her so. The woman already knows. Suddenly Barbie, the fraught aspirational figure, has beheld someone she might aspire to be, and it is a radiantly content nonagenarian, reading a newspaper on a Los Angeles bench, who knows what sheâs worth.
âThe idea of a loving God whoâs a mother, a grandmother â who looks at you and says, âHoney, youâre doing OKâ â is something I feel like I need and I wanted to give to other people,â Gerwig says. When it was suggested that this scene, which Gerwig calls a âtransaction of grace,â might be cut for time, she remembers thinking: âIf I cut that scene, I donât know why Iâm making this movie. If I donât have that scene, I donât know what it is or what Iâve done.â
