Director/Scr: Noah Baumbach US . 2007. 91mins
Baumbach's ambitious follow-up to the much admired The Squid And The Whale (2005) has echoes of Rohmer and vintage Woody Allen in its depiction of the affairs of the heart but lacks the laser-like precision, economy and easy approachability of his earlier hit. A mild disappointment in the wake of the near perfect Squid And The Whale, Margot At The Wedding still has enough sour humour and sharp insight to encourage viewers and critics to keep their faith in Baumbach's abilities as one of the more interesting American directors of his generation.

Inspired by the films of Eric Rohmer, writer-director Noah Baumbach has fashioned a lugubrious, tart-tasting ensemble probing the emotional scars of sibling rivalry, unhappy middle-class lives and the unbearable awkwardness of family intimacy. Critical support for the film and the key female performances should inspire a reasonable welcome for Margot At The Wedding although one that is largely restricted to urban arthouse sophisticates.

Baumbach seems fascinated by the way we end up hurting the people that we love the most. It was a theme that ran through The Squid And The Whale and also dominates Margot At The Wedding. The main rivalry this time is not between a divorced couple but between two sisters with a whole history of resentment and disappointment in each other. Writer Margot (Nicole Kidman) appears to have made a move towards reconciliation when she agrees to attend the wedding of her estranged sister Pauline (Jennifer Jason Leigh).

Accompanied by her son Claude (Zane Pais), Margot takes an instant dislike to groom Malcolm (Jack Black), a defensive, blustering underachiever who simply isn't good enough for her sister. 'He's not ugly, he's just completely unattractive, ' she observes. Later she concludes: 'He's like guys we rejected when we were 16.' When Pauline confides that she is pregnant, it is a secret that Margot cannot keep to herself. Her careless talk is the first of several betrayals in the days leading to a wedding that seems doomed from the outset.

Baumbach has a gift for creating complex characters that cannot be defined in black and white. Margot is an insensitive, manipulative monster who cannot see someone else's happiness without wanting to destroy it or steal it as potential material for her fiction. In Nicole Kidman's finely nuanced performance, she is also highly vulnerable and even sympathetic especially when confronted with her own failings. Pauline is the kind of character who should win all our sympathy but often seems her own worst enemy. The reason her sister can hurt her so much comes in the quiet realisation that she might just be speaking the truth.

Jennifer Jason Leigh has her best role in some time as a woman who keeps putting her hand towards a flickering flame and always seems surprised when she is burnt. Margot At The Wedding boasts some deadpan exchanges where words wound and the dialogue stings like a slap to the face. Every confrontation and conversation seems to deepen our understanding of the characters and their shared history or shed fresh light on a situation. It even becomes apparent that Margot may have had a selfish, hidden agenda in attending her sister's wedding.

Reservations about the film lie in characters whose constant self-absorption, appetite for drama and endless neuroses make them hard to like. Baumbach pushes the tone of the film towards the mannered and eccentric especially in one narrative thread dealing with Pauline's surly neighbours who seem to have strayed in from Deliverance or some backwoods scary movie.

There is also the issue of Jack Black as the feckless Malcolm, a role that seems to cry out for a young Jeff Bridges or Jack Nicholson. Black is fine with the character's more manic moments but less convincing in the big emotional scenes.

Production Company
Scott Rudin Productions

Int Sales
Paramount Vantage

Producer
Scott Rudin

Cinematography
Harris Savides

Production design
Anne Ross

Editor
Carol Littleton

Main cast
Nicole Kidman
Jennifer Jason Leigh
Jack Black
Ciaran Hinds
John Turturro
Zane Pais

Topics