The Misadventures of Margaret (1998)

A timid, insecure popular author with an overly-attentive professor husband decide to write an erotic novel. With encouragement from her sister and a bi-sexual friend, she goes to France ... See full summary »

Director:

Brian Skeet

Writers:

Cathleen Schine (novel), Brian Skeet

Stars:

Parker Posey, Jeremy Northam, Craig Chester

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Parker Posey	...	Margaret Nathan
Jeremy Northam	...	Edward Nathan
Craig Chester	...	Richard Lane
Elizabeth McGovern	...	Till Turner
Brooke Shields	...	Lily
Corbin Bernsen	...	Art Turner
Justine Waddell	...	Young Girl
Patrick Bruel	...	Martin
Stéphane Freiss	...	The Philosopher
Amy Phillips	...	Sarah From Brighton
Alexis Denisof	...	Dr. Lipi
Sylvie Testud	...	Young Nun
Al Mackenzie	...	Richard's Boyfriend
Kerry Shale	...	Librarian
Jeff Harding	...	Man at Party

Storyline

A timid, insecure popular author with an overly-attentive professor husband decide to write an erotic novel. With encouragement from her sister and a bi-sexual friend, she goes to France with the intent of doing research at an inn where a diary she had been using documented erotic encounters. Instead she finds the inn is now a cloister for singing nuns. However, a young, divorced sound engineer is also there taping the nuns. While attracted, she mostly succumbs only to new fantasies until he follows her home to New York.

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Plot Keywords:

nun | dentist | teacher student relationship | manhattan new york city | theatrical director | 

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Genres:

Comedy | Romance

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Details

Country:

France UK USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

23 December 1998 (France)

Also Known As:

A szerelem filozófiája

Filming Locations:

Ealing Studios, Ealing, London, England, UK

Box Office

Budget:

$5,000,000 (estimated)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Mandarin Films, TF1 Films Production, Lunatics and Lovers

Technical Specs

Runtime:

105 min 85 min (TV) 80 min (TV)

Color:

Color

Did You Know?

Trivia

The original soundtrack was fully composed by Saint Etienne, the distributor's wanted a more typical sound. So many of Saint Etienne's tracks are cut or barely audible.

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Quotes

The Philosopher: You see, in the end, our truest opinions are not the ones we have never changed...
Young Girl: ...but those to which we have most often returned.

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Connections

References Felix the Cat (1959)

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Soundtracks

"The More I See You"
Written by Mack Gordon, Harry Warren
Performed by Chris Montez

User Reviews

Odd little mess of a movie....

I love Parker Posey's movies, but this one was horrible. The dialogue was strangely paced, Parker's character had absolutely no depth or reason to care about her, the tension of the fidelity issues between her and her husband was played out entirely wrong.

The whole film had a navel-gazing stupor to it, with only a few characters seemingly able to rise above it's silliness. Parker's husband, and her gay editor are the two people who perform their roles with any kind of natural behavior. Kudos also to Brooke Shields, in a minor role with some funny moments.

All in all, however, this movie left me cold. The plot was slow, and culminated in an entirely unbelievable scene between Parker and her husband. The dialogue was delivered far too quickly and not enough was said to make you identify with anyone. The editing was also odd: a character would be in New York in one frame, then Paris in another with nothing to let you know why.

If you want to see Parker in a better light, watch The House of Yes or The Anniversary Party. Avoid this movie at all costs.