The word hysteria, as the French writer and philosopher Simone De Beauvoir pointed out, shares its genealogy with the word uterus. While this may seem unflattering to women, in the case of Margot, Nicole Kidman's character in Margot at the Wedding , the association is justified. Shrill and accusing one moment, soft and charming the next, she knows well how to manipulate people. Her sole motive is to make others miserable.
Director Noah Baumbach unfolds his story inside a beautiful coastal home. Outside, it is cold, grey and blustery. Margot's sister Pauline, played by the consummate Jennifer Jason Leigh, is soon to marry Malcolm (Jack Black). Pauline has invited Margot to the wedding.
Her husband-to-be, Malcolm, is an artist. He is fat, coarse and unemployed. Naturally, Margot capitalises on this. She tells Pauline that her fiancé is not worthy of her. Naturally, her sister becomes distraught. But then, it is not just Pauline whom she patronises. Even her son is continually put down and made to feel worthless.
Her loving husband (John Turturro) is treated with utter contempt. Of course, she disguises all her bullying as "caring". Everything she tells others is "for their own good".
Margot is a short story writer and a successful one. However, her approach to her work is cold. Her family exists only to provide fodder for her fiction. Diligently, she journals all her interactions with them and then uses this material for her stories.
Margot lives for the sake of her writing. That, and to make other people unhappy. Margot has nothing redeeming about her character. However, she does have beauty and literary talent. Her beauty, though, is prostituted to whichever man happens to be convenient at the time and her writing cannibalises her own family.
Margot at the Wedding has an accomplished script and the story plunges forward rapidly. Most of the action uses hand-held camera with lots of close-ups and quick edits. Characters are followed around as they move. Cinematographer Harris Savides and production designer Anne Cross collaborate to make you feel as if you are in that country house. You see what the characters do very minutely.
The cast is terrific; Zane Pais is fabulous as Margot's effeminate son and Jack Black, as Malcolm, is a particularly competent wuss. But it is Nicole Kidman who completely dominates the story…and she is a selfish brute. While we do need more Nicoles in this world, we certainly need fewer Margots, for the Margots make us all cringe.
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