Margot at the Wedding (2007)

Margot and her son Claude decide to visit her sister Pauline after she announces that she is getting married to less-than-impressive Malcolm. In short order, the storm the sisters create leaves behind a a mess of thrashed relationships and exposed family secrets.

Director:

Noah Baumbach

Writer:

Noah Baumbach

Stars:

Zane Pais, Nicole Kidman, Flora Cross

2 wins & 7 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Zane Pais	...	Claude
Susan Blackwell	...	Woman on Train
Nicole Kidman	...	Margot
Jack Black	...	Malcolm
Flora Cross	...	Ingrid
Jennifer Jason Leigh	...	Pauline
Seth Barrish	...	Toby
Matthew Arkin	...	Alan
Brian Kelley	...	Bruce
Christian Hansen	...	Fireman
Michael Cullen	...	Mr. Vogler
Enid Graham	...	Mrs. Vogler
Sophie Nyweide	...	Vogler Daughter
Justin Roth	...	Vogler Son
Ciarán Hinds	...	Dick Koosman

Storyline

A slice of family life: sisters, husbands, children, history, secrets, jealousies. Margot and her teen son, Claude, travel from Manhattan to her family's Long Island home, occupied by sister Pauline, Pauline's daughter, and Malcolm, the slacker Pauline will marry outdoors that week under a tree neighbors want removed. Backbiting marks family discussion, particularly between the sisters and in Margot's cutting remarks to Claude. Pauline tells Margot a secret that Margot promptly tells Claude. Margot dislikes Malcolm and undermines him. She also has marital problems and a lover nearby. People are cruel, inside and outside their families. Is there a refuge for Margot or for Pauline?

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Plot Keywords:

secret | family secret | jealousy | tree | neighbor | 

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Taglines:

One family. Infinite degrees of separation.

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Genres:

Comedy | Drama

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for sexual content and language

Details

Official Sites:

Official site

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

21 February 2008 (Australia)

Also Known As:

Untitled Noah Baumbach Project

Filming Locations:

City Island, Bronx, New York City, New York, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$10,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend:

$81,035 (USA) (16 November 2007)

Gross:

$1,956,291 (USA) (25 January 2008)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Scott Rudin Productions

Technical Specs

Runtime:

93 min

Sound Mix:

SDDS Dolby Digital DTS

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Originally titled "Nicole at the Beach", as a tribute to Eric Rohmer, the title was changed when Nicole Kidman was cast.

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Goofs

Malcolm has trouble recollecting the bassist for Motley Crue, and then remembers that it's Mick Mars. The bass player for Motley Crue is actually Nikki Sixx, although this mistake could have been intentional to further convey the forgetfulness.

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Quotes

Pauline: What's up?
Malcolm: I don't wanna do this.
Pauline: Come on, don't be that way.
Malcolm: No, I'm not being that way. I just don't feel like it. I'm gonna go back and... I have work to do.
Pauline: Dick doesn't care that you don't make any money.
Malcolm: Is that what you - that's not why. I just hate swimming. I really hate it. It's disgusting to me. My mistake was saying I'd do it to begin with. You have fun.
Pauline: Fine. We'll have fun.
Malcolm: People always pee in the pool.
Pauline: I don't think Dick and Maisy pee in their pool.
Malcolm: I'll bet you 500 dollars ...

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Connections

References Barely Legal 18 (2001)

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Soundtracks

"Go Tell Aunt Rhody"
Traditional
Performed by Jack Black

User Reviews

The Margot Show

What does it say about your wedding when your estranged sister's attendance is a bigger event than the wedding itself? I mean, it's right there in the title of Noah Baumbach's dysfunctional family disaster movie. It isn't called "The Wedding" or "Malcolm and Pauline Get Married". No, it's called MARGOT AT THE WEDDING. If your sister at your wedding causes that big a stir, perhaps the invitation would have been better lost in the mail. Still, despite her better judgment and in the interest of progress and healing, Pauline (Jennifer Jason Leigh) does invite the sister she still refers to as her closest friend after years of not speaking, to her intimate affair. It is clear her idea was not her best from the moment Margot (Nicole Kidman) steps off the boat and on to the New England shore. Pauline sends her fiancé, Malcolm (Jack Black), to pick Margot and her eldest son, Claude (Zane), up from the ferry. She claims to be making last minute arrangements back at the house but I suspect it was she and not the house who was not quite ready to receive. Then, when the two are finally face to face, standing in front of the house they grew up in, they smile and make pleasantries but fidget hesitatingly before actually embracing. That awkward moment grows into a whirlwind of deep-seeded pain before long and suddenly rain on the blessed day is hardly the biggest worry for the bride-to-be.

Baumbach scored last time out with his Oscar-nominated THE SQUID AND THE WHALE. He was lauded for his sensitive and honest tale of divorce and how it affects the entire family unit. With MARGOT AT THE WEDDING, he solidifies his reputation for creating believable family ties based on dependence, dysfunction and subtle admiration. Watching the sisters as they sit around the house catching up is voyeuristic as we are often privy to conversations that feel as though they were not meant to be heard. As the sisters flip through old records in their even older house, Baumbach writes decades of experiences into his characters and we, like Malcolm, are latecomers to this dinner party. Director of photography, Harris, draws us even closer to this inner circle by shooting mostly hand-held footage in natural lighting and with older lenses. The resulting tone is dark and grainy but nostalgic and rich with history at the same time. At times, we are the quiet cousin who says nothing but stands in the corner with a camera and follows the drama from room to room. It isn't long before we learn how to interpret the vernacular of this particular family and we find ourselves laughing along inappropriately at the expense of whomever Margot is lovingly ridiculing at the moment. As we laugh though, we care as well.

Kidman and Leigh (Baumbach's wife) are both marvelous as they walk the very tightly wound lines of their borderline personalities. Baumbach guides their performances into textured characters that seem natural as sisters and strongly rooted as multifaceted people who struggle to be themselves when in the presence of the other. They even possess archetypal qualities without coming across as contrived. Margot is the master of deflection. She is constantly doling out psychological diagnoses to those around her to avoid any fingers pointing back her way. It never dawns on her that as a writer, she actually has no formal foundation to base her opinions on. She cannot understand why Pauline would settle for Malcolm; she picks at Claude to keep him closer; she even attacks her husband (John Turturro) for his good nature because it just makes her feel like a bad person. She is a fatalist to Pauline's hopeful but defeated optimist. Pauline is damaged but wants to heal and has done so much more than she gives herself credit for. She teeters back and forth between making sneaky, subtle jabs at her sister, habits from her youth, and building new connections so that she can have the sister she always wanted instead of the one she has always had. Only, in the house that Baumbach built, the answer to whether people can ever truly change is not the least bit clear.

Family, even the best examples, can be tricky to negotiate. Spending any extended period of time with the people who both influenced you and hurt you the most in your life can be exhausting. That said, MARGOT AT THE WEDDING can be no less trying. There are those who revel in watching others with deeper dysfunction then their own. It helps them to feel that their lives are not nearly as bad as they thought. There are also others who feel they have enough to juggle already with potentially damaging weddings of their own to survive coming up fast. Why then immerse yourself in a tornado of neuroses and painful memories that are not even your own? Truthfully, you don't have to. Along those lines, Pauline never needed to invite her sister to her wedding either. Only if she hadn't, she would have missed out on everything the experience taught her about herself and the potential for progress. This is the genuine beauty of Baumbach's work. He shares so intensely and personally that he inevitably forces the viewer to deal with their own inner-Margot.