Margot, Margot at the Wedding (2007)
Noah Baumbach’s tragicomedy Margot at the Wedding offers a searing insight into the fragmented relationship of sisters Pauline and Margot on the eve of Pauline’s wedding. Pauline (Jennifer Jason Leigh) resents writer Margot for borrowing huge chunks of her life to exploit in print while Margot belittles Pauline’s small life and fat, lazy fiancé Malcolm (Jack Black). As old resentments simmer, the pair take cautious jabs at one another but reserve the bulk of their ire for those closest to them. Pauline pecks at Malcolm’s masculinity, confusing and unsettling him, while Margot lands ego bruising blows on her tween son Claude. When a professional appearance takes an unfortunate turn for the personal for Margot, and Pauline learns a difficult truth about Malcolm, the sisters take refuge at a motel together. Forced to confront their issues the women clash and Margot’s loyalty is given one final test.
Margot at the Wedding is an extremely uncomfortable watch, it is caustic and cruel and decidedly lacking in happily ever afters. For the same reason it is one of Nicole Kidman’s most powerful performances, she and Jennifer Jason Leigh seethe with resentment for each other, for their shared past and for their divided future. Both women are remarkable but the excruciating scenes between Margot and young son Claude (Zane Pais) make Kidman’s the star turn here. She plays Margot as utterly incapable of restraint when she lacerates her beloved son with her sharp tongue and inappropriate confidences. She is twisted, broken and unlikeable and yet still able to command a heart-lifting moment at the films close – a fine job.
