MARGOT AT THE WEDDING
US, 2007, 93 minutes, Colour.
Nicole Kidman, Jennifer Jason Lee, Jack Black, John Turturro, Zane Pais, Flora Cross, Ciaran Hinds.
Directed by Noah Bambauch.
Margot at the Wedding is a puzzling film. Not that there is anything wrong with that. However, between puzzle and satisfaction, the swing is much more towards puzzle.
Noah Baumbach made that very good film about a dysfunctional family, The Squid and the Whale. Margot at the Wedding is something in the same vein, except that a principal focus is on a mother (Margot) and a son (Claude) about to move into adolescence. This film also focuses on the relationship between the mother and her previously estranged sister whose wedding she decides to attend. In the foreground is her sister’s intended and her pre-teenage daughter. In the background is Margot’s husband and a writer with whom she is having an affair. There are also some cantankerous neighbours.
This means that there is plenty of plot. But, it is plot by way of a succession of episodes rather than any dynamic character-driven or situation-driven narrative. Which means that the film could just stop whether issues are shown to have been resolved or not (and it does). Margot is described as often changing her mind – and this happens to the other characters as well. It means we leave the cinema thinking about the characters – or not - depending on how interesting and engaging they are (or not).
Nicole Kidman gives another strong performance as the capricious Margot. She is in turns mollycoddling her son or humiliating and embarrassing him. She is self-absorbed, a writer who has exploited all the family traumas in her stories. She dominates and then pouts at criticism accusing everyone of picking on her. Kidman makes Margot believable but not someone you would not like to know in real life.
Jennifer Jason Leigh is her sister, less moody and with her feet more firmly on the ground. She wants the friendship of her sister after years of non-speaking but she also has her distraught moments. Jack Black gives another variation on his large slob with potential performance as he prepares to marry but is off-put by Margot. John Turturro is sympathetic in his short screen time. Ciaran Hinds is the writer whose interview with Margot in a bookshop precipitates the final emotional crisis.
Baumbach has an ear for dialogue, especially the dialogue of conflict. This gives a literate quality to the film and the performances. But, these characters, their antagonisms and their emotions are still a big puzzle.
1.A slice of American life? Portrait of Margot, Pauline, the other characters? Dysfunctional family?
2.The New England settings, the home on the water, the grounds, the neighbours, the island, the beach, the roads, the town, the shops? Credible atmosphere? Musical score?
3.The title, the focus on Margot, the focus on the others, in relationship to Margot?
4.The initial train ride, Claude and Margot, the introduction to them, Claude and his age, Margot’s criticisms, mollycoddling him, his scream in the toilet, his relationship to his mother? Margot in herself, Jim and his absence?
5.The arrival, waiting, Malcolm coming, Jack Black’s style, rough and ready? Margot and Pauline not having talked to each other for a long time? Pauline’s welcoming them, Ingrid? The situation of the wedding? The house, the ownership, their mother, Pauline owning it? The house and its memories? Margot’s room? The talk, the tensions? The marriage, Pauline’s past marriages?
6.Margot, Nicole Kidman’s style, age, the writer, using family stories for her publications? Claude and his age, her possessiveness, yet her criticisms and humiliation? The phone calls to Jim? Her leaving Jim? Dick and the affair? Her manner, control, criticisms, personal hypersensitivity? At meals, at the beach, talking, being persuaded to climb the tree, stuck, rescued? The meal out, Roger and staying with him? Claude and his reaction?
7.Pauline in herself, her past, the relationship with Margot, their friendship? As a teacher, mother to Ingrid? Knowing Malcolm for a year? Pregnant? Telling Margot, Margot telling all the others, the information getting back to Ingrid? Pauline’s explanation? Her freedom, her neighbours, moodiness, the trees, arguing with the neighbours? The wedding tent? The cutting down of the tree – and the falling on the tent?
8.Malcolm, Jack Black’s style, his art, music, talk, rough and ready? Looking at Margot? Her looking down on him? His looking at Maisie, the tension, the kiss, his confession? Dick, the reaction, the kicking on the beach? Cutting down the tree? Its fall? Margot to blame for the tension between himself and Pauline? Possible reconciliation?
9.Jim and his arrival, pleasant, talking with Claude, his life with Margot, care for Claude? His stopping for the wounded animal, paying? Margot saying she would not stop or pay?
10.The planned talk, Dick asking the questions? Not inviting Pauline? Claude and Pauline going? The questions, her answers, his embarrassing question about her father? Her having to leave, her being upset? The crisis?
11.Claude, playing with Ingrid, their getting on well together? The neighbouring boy and his bashing Claude? The neighbours, the invitation to the wedding, their reaction?
12.Maisie, her relationship with Dick, coming over to baby-sit, flirtatious, with Malcolm? Her apologies?
13.Margot, her decisiveness, changing her mind, taking Claude to the bus, her staying, chasing the bus, getting on the bus? A future?
14.The puzzling aspects of the plot, the characters, the cumulation of episodes? The future for each of the characters?
