Margot at the Wedding
Friday, 29 Feb 2008 13:12
Nicole Kidman stars as the barbed Margot in Noah Baumbach's family drama.
Directed by Noah Baumbach, out date February 29th, starring Nicole Kidman, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Jack Black, Zane Pais, running time 93 minutes.
In a nutshell...
A black-comedy on dysfunctional family life
What's it all about?
Nicole Kidman plays Margot, a highly-strung, self-obsessed successful author, who makes a surprise visit with her teenage son to her estranged sister, Pauline (Jennifer Jason Leigh), in time for her Pauline's wedding. Pauline is to marry failed musician and likeable layabout, Malcolm (Jack Black), whose hopelessness and utter incompatibility with Pauline becomes more and more apparent as the film develops. Yet it quickly transpires that Margot's arrival at the remote coastal town is spurred less by her willingness to settle the family feud, and more by the disintegrating marriage from which she is running away.
Who's it by?
The film is directed by Noah Baumbach who is best known as writer-director of The Squid and the Whale (2005). As his previous film was an achingly intimate look at divorce, Baumbach once again offers a dissection of family life in Margot at the Wedding. However, whereas The Squid and the Whale was hailed by many critics as a "humane comedy" and a "minor masterpiece", Margot at the Wedding has met with less favourable reviews for its jagged narrative and wholly self-absorbed characters who risk alienating their audience.
As an example...
"I have this theory. I think, historically, women have been held back in so many ways that when they get power like they do behind the wheel, they can't help but abuse it. It's akin to Hannah Arendt's Eichmann theory about prison guards and prisoners switching roles." - Malcolm
Likelihood of an Oscar
This is far more film festival material than Hollywood blockbuster. Better than the critics suggest but not a box office hit .
What the others say
"Easier to appreciate than enjoy." - Matt McNally, BBC Movies
"Some of the dialogue is well-crafted and performances are generally strong... but the characters are so loathsome that you long for a hurricane to sweep away this wedding party." - Wendy Ide, Times
"Over-cooked, overwritten, overacted and over-directed." - Peter Bradshaw, Guardian
So is it any good?
As an observation of a highly dysfunctional family's interaction over a few significant days, this film is absorbing and at times highly amusing. If you go to it expecting a well-rounded story, you will be sorely disappointed. Characters are met and then not seen again, a strange feud with the creepy neighbours continues alongside the wedding preparations but is never resolved, a third sister is mentioned but never introduced and the dissolution of Margot's marriage and her relationship with Dick never fully explained. It is an intimate character exploration rather than an action-filled romp, but one that is carried by strong central performances and a screenplay so realistic, it is at times excruciating to watch.
Kidman is excellent as the emotionally tactless Margot. Despite Margot's neuroses and self-absorption, Kidman adds empathy to her persona, bringing forth complexity in a character it could all be too easy to dislike. When she is interviewed by Dick, whose interrogation of her book cuts a little too close to the bone, we witness a side to Margot that is heart-rending and vulnerable. It is this attention to character detail that Baumbach has got so right in this film.
Alongside the emotional turmoil, there are moments of real humour in the movie, such as when Malcolm is left speechless as he is belittled by the frightening neighbour, M Vogel, leaving his fiance struggling to reason with him, and when Margot gets stuck up the tree in the garden, eventually having to be rescued by the local fireman
This film is accentuated by powerful believable performances, particularly from Kidman and Leigh. Yet Jack Black seems to base his performance on his School of Rock days. While adding humour as the flawed and underachieving Malcolm who continually lets down his fiance, Pauline, his overacting appears incongruous beside his strong female counterparts. One to watch but not necessarily on that will be readily revisited.
5/10
Nova Maxwell
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