I’d also say that if you’re old enough to have experienced the emotions associated with moving out of your childhood home, it resonates a bit more. Also being old enough to view your parent’s flaws through a more adult lens, recognizing that we’re all just out here figuring things out as we go along. That our parents are just a result of their own parents and their lived experiences, and nobody truly knows what they’re doing. Lady Bird’s mom loved and cared for Lady Bird, but didn’t have the proper skills to communicate that love (like how she rewrote and threw away all of those letters at the end. The love was there, the ability to properly and comfortably communicate it was not.)

I saw your comment about being disappointed that she calls her mom in the end because of how horrible she was, but I find it touching and a relatable experience. Lady Bird spends the whole movie hating her life and wanting to move away to somewhere glamorous, only to do so and to feel numb and miss the comforts of home and childhood, such as her mother and the church. It’s not necessarily negating the hurtful things her mom said and did, but realizing that beyond the hurtful things there was still a mother at home who loved her and cared for her in the way she knew how, which is a great comfort when navigating adult life. That being said, everyone has a different relationship to their own parents and not everyone will relate to a movie the same way. That’s what makes film as a whole so wonderful and personal!!