Margot at the Wedding (Noah Baumbach, 2007)

[Antoine Doinel]

I love this movie, but something really bothers me at the end when

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Nicole Kidman drops her purse and runs after the bus. Why would any woman leave her purse by the roadside? I mean, it's got her wallet in it. I think there's quite an unhealthy dose of histronics there that betrays the otherwise natural tone and performances.

Margot being Margot,

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it surely has no cash in it and her driver's license we already know is expired. The only thing of any worth in her purse is probably a joint credit card (with her husband) or two. Considering that the only thing that really means anything to her (including her family, her marriage, and money) is speeding away on a bus, her decision to leave everything else behind (dreadfully symbolic though it may be) makes sense to me.

I've sort of changed my mind on this, or at least partially:

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Watching the scene on the DVD a couple of times, I see that Margot drops her sweater and puts her purse down after Claude's bus starts moving away. It appears that she plans to hang out on the pier, maybe sit on the parking curb for a minute to get herself together before she has to go deal with her mother and sisters. In a split second, though, she decided to race after the bus. I don't think she even knows exactly why she is doing it. Maybe she thinks she just needs a better goodbye. I don't think she decides to stay on the bus until she's actually on it. By the time the credits roll, I don't even think Margot realizes that she's left her purse behind. I now realize that the ending is more hopeful than I originally thought because it appears she is going back to Vermont to give her marriage another go. Maybe.

So I finally got around to seeing this tonight and God, did I ever want to love this movie, but it's too bad that Baumbach's third act is completely hysterical and over-the-top to the point of farce compared to the tremendously fascinating, and dark first two-thirds of the film. There were too many elements and detours - particularly the hillbilly neighbor subplot; the dog running away; dog by the side of the road - that didn't work or distracted from the main thread. At times it felt like a solid one-act play expanded into a movie length form.

As for the scene above, I don't think there is any "right" interpretation but for me,

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I felt that it indicated that Margot only feels alive when she pushes everyone in her life away from her to the point of complete loneliness. The expression on her face and the surprise of how out of breath she is when she comes on the bus, for me, says it all. It's like she pushes herself to the brink of isolation just to feel the adrenaline of coming back into her family. I thought it was perfectly natural she would've left her purse and sweater.

As for Jack Black, he really doesn't have the chops for this kind of film, and his confession scene to Pauline was embarrassing. On the flipside, Nicole Kidman was absolutely great playing against type. Great, great work here.

I can see why this didn't find an audience or critical love --- it's an exhausting (in a good way), emotionally wrought and superbly written film (well, two-thirds of it) that really doesn't give the audience anything to feel comfortable or sure of. It's a brave, but ultimately failed film.

[jbeall]

I really disliked The Squid and the Whale, so I began watching Margot with low expectations yesterday. However, I came away really impressed, especially by the improvement in Baumbach's writing. The characters in this film were wonderfully fleshed out, wanting to do the right thing but completely sabotaged by unconscious hang-ups they're either unaware of or terrified of facing (maybe both).

One scene that stood out to me was

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when Dick asked her if the father figure in one of her stories was about herself. The anecdote she started to tell before stopping and running off was riveting, and I'm still wondering exactly why she tells that story, although I'm sure that Margot doesn't know, either.

Also, I like the various interpretations of the ending in the posts immediately above. My take is

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that Margot's always running away. Her pop-psychoanalytic/psychiatric diagnoses, in this regard, are obviously how she runs away from her own problems. I guess that although our interpretations are similar, I'm disagreeing with Antoine in that I think she inadvertently pushes people away; it's less a matter of Margot getting her kicks than collateral damage. Anyway, as soon as the bus pulls away, the only thing for her to do, since the car is broken down, is to walk back into town and deal with her mother and sister Becky. The bus represents her only means of doing escaping that option, so she runs after the bus (and not entirely consciously, hence her surprise at what she's just done). What she does when they get to Vermont is anybody's guess.

[LavaLamp]

Just re-watched Margot at the Wedding. Superb. This probably ties with Frances Ha as my favorite Baumbach film.

Nicole Kidman as Margot was brilliant in this; as always, she was gorgeous & polished. However, her grating comments & criticisms to everyone made the character extremely unattractive. It must have been tough for her to go against type here - well done.

Jack Black was hilarious - though I find him obnoxious in this film (as he is in most films), the scene when he tearfully "confessed" to Pauline that he had kissed Maisie was somewhat pathetic at first, but when it became evident that he had probably harassed Maisie & probably completely imagined her interest that scene became pathetically funny. What made this even funnier was seeing his running away from Dick (especially the long shot of his running down the wooden steps towards the beach) & the subsequent beat down. He was like a petulant little kid who knows he's done something wrong & knows he's going to get in trouble for it, but doesn't want to man up & face the consequences...

Very honorable mention to the underrated John Turturro - I've liked his acting ever since seeing the incredible Barton Fink back in the early '90's. Though he wasn't in Margot much, his brief scenes really resonated. He was excellent as a guy trying to get his marriage back on track, despite the resistance from his wife. My favorite scene was at night, right after he had taken the woman's wounded dog to the vet. Margot and he were standing outside...she went off on him, and instead of getting upset he saw she was cold, gave her his coat, and asked her what was wrong. Very understated performance here, and a lesser actor wouldn't have been as convincing in this scene....Perfect.

[therewillbeblus]

I had an itch and watched this again, and without realizing it was possible wound up loving it even more. There are so many complex interpersonal communication patterns happening here, and with a lot more value at times than many seem to credit these characters. Margot, and let’s face it most of the characters here, say some pretty hurtful things, but there’s an intimacy embedded in the strained relationships, an irony that’s realistic. A great example is the scene already discussed in this thread of

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Margot telling Claude that he too will shit himself one day, in response to Pauline soiling herself

which I took to come off as the most mature and respectable moment for Margot in the film. Perhaps she makes mean comments, exhibits narcissism, talks longer than she should, etc. but her poor social skills/unwillingness to conform has merit. How many parents have the audacity to tell it like it is to their kids, that people are flawed, make mistakes, have gross unexpected circumstances, and how wonderful is it that Claude gets to grow up knowing this. Sure, maybe the boundaries are poor enough that he admits to masterbation nonchalantly, and it’s more than a little confusing to provide validation for flaws when you’re constantly pointing out flaws as problems, but one can even read into those derogatory comments as having authentic intent if they look closely enough.