MUBI

There is something about ‘Margot at the Wedding’ that gets to me. Besides my admiration for Noah Baumbach — the director — I look up to him for his guts as a screenwriter. He doesn’t hold anything back, even the silliest and the most embarrassing account of his childhood experiences — he dare unfolds it through the eyes of his films many complex characters.

The story treatmet for ‘Margot at the Wedding’ is character driven, which was inspired by the styles of the French New Wave cinema, particularly to that of Eric Rohmer. It is simple, yet ultra-realistic, to the point that you have to see the progression of each character, specifically Margot (Nicole Kidman), to fully appreciate the heart of the story. It is also inherently funny without trying. The scenes were not forced and the characters are spontaneous and their attack is basically maneuvered by what they give off and gives away.

The interesting part about Margot, is that besides being the protagonist she is more or less the antagonist of this film. Take it for example are her family who sees her as somewhat manipulative, hateful, insane and neurotic despite of her success as a writer. However, albeit of her many defects including her passive aggressiveness, we are still drawn towards her, because whether we like it or not, we can identify ourselves with her quirky and annoying behavior, as well as with her dysfunctional family. I believe, that she doesn’t intend to be contemptible to others and her ruthless remarks made by her sharp tongue was only a mere result of her impulsive thinking and excessive use of defense mechanism carried on by her harsh experiences as a child. The scenes where she masturbates alone in her bedroom and where she got stuck up in the tree showed us a glimpse of what an utter fool she can make of herself. Though they were awkward moments it still captured Margot at her best because it totally embodies her humanity.

On the other hand, her sister Pauline (Jennifer Jason Leigh) is pensive as well as maternal. Though they were both complicated and screwed up, the latter has the sensitivity streak that the former rarely shows to her family. She is forgiving and doesn’t hold grudges to any of her past adversary, including Margot. Meanwhile her fiance Malcolm (Jack Black) is a washout middle-age unemployed wannabe artist who was able to discerned Margot for what she really is but was crushed by his lack of moral integrity before he can stood up to his words with sincerity.

Considering that Margot is an intellectual snob she couldn’t understand what Pauline sees in Malcolm since he was exactly the kind of guy they technically rejected when they were in high school. The dreaded type who generates nonsensical obscenity from their mouth in a rather boorish fashion, who fail their grades and doesn’t even possessed the wit to compensate their lack of culture and physical hygiene to make up for their academic flop, who enjoys ridiculing people just to gain attention, and who has no career path whatsover that they ended up laboring in some tired junk shop or doing nothing at all except inflate their beer bellies while lying, cheating and violating their wives like an old punching bag or ATM machine. Of course, she didn’t come off with those lines but I’m sure that’s what she had in mind when scrutinizing him.

I also think that Margot’s reaction for her sister’s fiance is just normal and it purely shows the very idiosyncratic feeling or nature that a family leans on when it comes to welcoming a complete stranger in their household, most specially when the person doesn’t live up to their expectations.

Margot’s son Claude (Zane Pais) is already in the midst of his puberty but he appears to be a rather strong contender for teenagers that are suffering from the ubiquitous Oedipus syndrome. There are times that he hates her for being demanding and annoying but she’s the closest he can get to for a father figure, though in fact his father is still very much alive. Her opinion is the one he listens to and the one that matters most to him. Though the wedding was technically a disaster it enabled him to be aware of certain things that he should be paying attention to at his age. He is a perfect example of a prepubescent teen who were growing rapidly but were still relying on their mother’s opinion before deodorizing their malodorous smell even though their armpits already reeks! Well, enough of that.

I honestly enjoyed watching this film as much as writing this analysis and I think it’s one of the best I’ve seen in years, especially since last year. Instead of using the usual somber tone that makes your head fall down in deep slumber, Noah Baumbach remarkably adapted the frailty and psychological poignancy of the human condition by interweaving the dramatic and the dark comedic form all together. Thus, sharing along the ranks with last year’s indie heavyweights Juno and The Savages. There’s nothing more suitable, more appropriately fitting than the latter genres mention that could make up for all the rigorous monologues that made my eyes wide open and my brain receptive for the information handed by this film.

A movie that you are not tempted to see more than once, but…it doesn’t work that well if you don’t. Great writing in the script and great actors performance also. Even Jack Black is well directed and is able to find his place in this not so funny movie. Nicole Kidman rarely choose to play in such an intime piece of cinema and it’s wonderful to see here there. For best and worst, THE SQUID AND THE WHALE was kitsch in its use of 70’s references. Also, the characters were stuck in state of mind (like in most movies that are easy to love after one viewing). In Margot, characters are closer to real life, more ambiguous, more so than in Rachel Getting Wedding, to name a movie that is similar (forget the title, I’m talking about the way the characters are approached by the director, the psychological tension in family). Margot is doomed to be underrated because in the narrative, nobody is ONE THING or TWO THINGS (like in the popular,but not so original Rachel Getting Wedding). It moves like daily life, where unrelated events add to the psychological tension and without much hints to help us make the links easily. But, the movie is full of little details that make it really strong in atmosphere and with a natural in flow (without this tendency to repeat key lines or make things too simple by fear of not being able to be understood) that is rarely found in new directors output.

It took me a long time to decide how I felt about this film. My initial response was that I didn’t like it, but I think I was tricked because I didn’t like the characters or what they did. That doesn’t necessarily reflect on the quality of the film itself. Being able to separate that and look at the film as a whole instead of the make-up of all its parts made me realize that it’s a very fascinating portrait of a dysfunctional family. And because the characters irked me so much, a lot is to be said of the great performances.

Noah Baumbach’s films are either therapy sessions gone wrong or precise examinations of selfishness in intelligent upper middle class bohemia, either way, in their Rohmerian look at family troubles, they are fascinating to watch. Following the much admired “The Squid and the Whale”, Baumbach switches focus from a crumbling marriage to the rivalry between two estranged sisters (marvelously played by Jennifer Jason Leigh and Nicole Kidman), reunited when the former invites the latter, a famous, self-absorbed New York author, back to their childhood home for a wedding. What transpires is a mixture of bonding, psychological gamesmanship, and acidic putdowns, filmed and performed in theatrical long takes reminiscent of such master directors as Eric Rohmer (Baumbach’s noted inspiration), Mike Leigh, Ingmar Bergman, and to a lesser extent, Woody Allen during his Bergman-esque period. Baumbach isn’t quite proficient enough to join the ranks of such revered writer-directors, but his formula is solid, mature, and perfectly squirm inducing.