Margot at the Wedding

Originally Written and Posted at Epinions.com on 2/24/08.

French director Eric Rohmer is one of France's premier directors that came out the French New Wave movement in the 1960s. Making films on various subjects about morality, relationships, and seasons in a series of films. Rohmer continues to make films as in 2007, the director was finding himself becoming an influence in American cinema. Just as he was releasing a new film entitled Les Amours d'Astree et de Celadon, two American feature films were released inspired by Rohmer's work. The first was a Chris Rock comedy I Think I Love My Wife which the comedian who also co-wrote and directed this remake of Rohmer's 1972 film L'Amour l'apres-midi (Love in the Afternoon). The second Rohmer-inspired film that came out later in 2007 came from Noah Baumbach as he took inspiration from Rohmer's 1983 film Pauline a la plage (Pauline at the Beach) that was about a teenager discovering love in the summer at the beach. Baumbach's version is in the form of a character-driven comedy-drama entitled Margot at the Wedding.

Written and directed by Noah Baumbach, Margot at the Wedding tells the story of a woman who decides to attend her sister's wedding. Upon meeting her groom, tension arrive between the two sisters. A film about family dynamics and sibling relationships, the film explores some of Baumbach's themes of family dysfunctions that he explored in his 2005 film The Squid & the Whale as he casts Nicole Kidman in the role of Margot and his own wife Jennifer Jason Leigh as her free-spirited sister Pauline. Also starring Jack Black, John Turturro, Halley Feiffer, Zane Pais, Flora Cross, and Ciaran Hinds. Margot at the Wedding is a complex yet complicated film from Noah Baumbach.

Margot and her son Claude (Zane Pais) are riding on a train as they attend the wedding of Margot's younger sister Pauline. After taking a ride on a ferry, they wait for to be at the family home as they're picked up by Pauline's daughter Ingrid (Flora Cross) and Malcolm (Jack Black) who turns out to be Pauline's fiance`. While Margot and Pauline haven't spoken in years, Pauline is happy to see that Margot is there as Malcolm reveals to be an unemployed musician/painter still trying to find a job. Yet, Pauline's work as a teacher still manages to keep them well financially. Margot doesn't seem pleased at Pauline's choice while learns that Pauline is pregnant. While Claude and Ingrid walk around a trail nearby the house with their dog, Pauline reveals some trouble with the neighbors known as the Voglers in whom Margot manages to cause more trouble during a walk.

When Margot, Pauline, Malcolm, Claude, and Ingrid are invited to swim at the home of Dick Koosman (Ciaran Hinds), everyone goes except for Malcolm who seems uncomfortable in the presence of Dick's teenage daughter Maisy (Halley Feiffer). During one night when the adults decide to go out, Claude begins to have a crush on Maisy much to Ingrid's dismay. Things become more complicated when Margot reveals to Pauline that she's having an affair with Dick making Pauline believe that she came here to meet with Dick while still being married to Jim (John Turturro). Jim arrives briefly to celebrate Pauline's marriage as Margot’s criticism towards Malcolm makes him feel insecure.

With the wedding day approaching, Claude gets attacked by the Voglers' son as he finds more comfort in Pauline rather than his neurotic, critical mother. Then during a public conversation about a book with Dick in front of book readers, things go bad when Margot is asked a very personal question. Things worsen when Margot's snide comments about everything put things into a tailspin in which Malcolm’s insecurities get the worst of him in front of Pauline. Suddenly, everything crashes down as old tension between the two sisters starts to boil with Margot suddenly being targeted for all of the family drama.

Taking a lot of cues from Eric Rohmer, Noah Baumbach creates a story that is filled with a lot of family drama along with dabbles of humor. Unfortunately, the story is so high brow with all of these talks of psychological babble and an unlikeable protagonist, it's a story that's hard to delve into. Probably because some of the characters Baumbach creates kind of fall into stereotypes. The neurotic, snotty protagonist; her free-spirited, slacker-like sister; and a lazy, cynical, childlike loser. It's not that Baumbach kind of puts them into those stereotypes, there's just isn't much depth for those characters to connect with. Only the situations involving the characters that include family dysfunction is the one plot-point that audiences can relate to.

Baumbach's direction does make up for the film's dense and babbling script. Baumbach creates an intimate portrait with the film's hand-held camera style that is also in tune with his love for the French New Wave. Even in that style of hand-held cameras, comedic moments, and abrupt shift scenes can work and sometimes, doesn't. There's a moment when following a dramatic scene involving Margot and Claude, it then transitions into a very abrupt scene of Margot at the book store her for her public conversation. It's really Baumbach's direction rather than the editing that causes that abrupt shift that will make the audience feel baffled. While he does underplay the film’s drama and humor. The result is Baumbach starting to realize his craft as a director but still needs work to trying to make a coherent story that audiences can relate to.

Cinematographer Harris Savides does a wonderful job with the film's intimate yet, somewhat grainy look as the look of the film doesn't really have much colors except for a very scenes with sunlight. Most of the look is kind of desolate to convey the mood of the film while the interior settings are shown with little light for its sense of intimacy. Editor Carol Littleton does some fantastic work on the film's editing with the use of jump-cuts and transitions though its flawed is in more due to stylistic choices from what Baumbach wanted. Even in scenes where the transitions from one sequence to another where things feel abrupt.

Production designer Anne Ross and art director Adam Stockhausen do an excellent job in creating the bohemian look of Pauline's home that is filled with pictures on the refrigerator, loads of antiques and such to give the film that look. Costume designer Ann Roth also plays to that bohemian look with loose clothing for the likes of Pauline and Malcolm to the more city yet loose look of Margot that included her red-pink hat. Sound designer Paul Urmson and sound editor Ruth Hernandez help create an atmosphere for the film's exterior scenes that includes the location near the beach, woods, and such as well as the noise of cars driving around upstate New York. Music supervisor George Drakoulias creates a unique soundtrack filled with music from the likes of Dion, Britta Phillips & Dean Wareham of Luna, Blondie, and other types of music to convey the sense of youth in both Margot and Pauline.

The casting by Douglas Aibel is wonderfully assembled with small performances Seth Barrish and Matthew Arkin as a gay couple Margot makes unflattering comments towards and Michael Cullen as the creepy Mr. Vogler with Justin Roth as his son. Halley Feiffer, who was previously in The Squid & the Whale, is good as the seductive Maisy who tries to woo the young Claude while flirting with the very uncomfortable Malcolm. Ciaran Hinds is excellent as Margot's publisher/lover Dick Koosman who is snobbish and smug in which he makes Malcolm uncomfortable and then says hurtful things towards Margot. John Turturro is good in his brief role as Claude's father who cares for Margot as he wonders about their strained marriage in which his feelings towards her, makes her confused. Flora Cross is good though not as memorable as Ingrid, Claude's aloof cousin who seems to care more about her dog than anything else while singing a song for the wedding unaware of where she is.

Zane Pais is great as Margot's son Claude who is trying to deal with his mother's neurotic behavior while finding some comfort in Pauline as he deals with things like girls and such in his own adolescence. Jack Black is good as the slacker Malcolm where Black proves to be a capable actor in doing both comedy and drama as he plays a man who is so used to disappointments and not trying to let Pauline down. The only flaw in Black's performance is in scenes where he’s really emotional where it's pretty bad in a funny way. It's not Black's fault for this flaw since he's trying very hard, it's just that he needs to take more time in delving into those moments.

Jennifer Jason Leigh is excellent as the free-spirited Pauline who is trying to deal with Malcolm's shortcomings as a man along with the presence of her sister Margot. Leigh's performance is wonderfully restrained as she presents a character that is Margot's opposite as free, caring, and sometimes aggressive as she deals with her older sister's constant criticisms and such. Nicole Kidman delivers her best performance since Lars Von Trier's 2003 film Dogville after years of lackluster films and uninspired performances. Kidman delivers a subtle yet humorous performance as a neurotic writer who is always saying bad things, making harsh criticisms, and such in which she is a very unlikeable character. Though Kidman at times falters in her voice where she would be saying things in her native Australian accent, she does manage to create a character, though stereotypical, an amazing presence to watch. Kidman also has great rapport with Leigh in which the two actresses have great camaraderie together in the scenes they're in.

The Region 1 DVD from Paramount Vantage presents the film in the widescreen format for 16x9 TVS with 5.1 Surround Sound for English and Spanish along with English, Spanish, and French subtitles. The special features include two different trailers for this film along with films like Paul Thomas Anderson's There Will Be Blood, Sean Penn's Into the Wild, Susanne Bier's Things We Lost in the Fire, Marc Forster's The Kite Runner, and the Farelly Brothers' The Heartbreak Kid. The big special feature is a 14-minute conversation segment with director Noah Baumbach and his wife/star Jennifer Jason Leigh.

The couple basically talk about the film's story and casting. Baumbach talks about Nicole Kidman whom he met a coffee shop as the two didn’t want to talk to each other as he passed his script to her. The next day, he got a call from saying she wants to do the film. Leigh talks about Kidman's approach to acting which is similar to her own approach where they both got along easily. The two also talked about Jack Black who was approached for his comedic talents and didn't give into pressure into being serious. They also talked about Zane Pais’ performance which Baumbach refers to as natural while delving into the story and characters along with his approach to the film.

While not as accessible as The Squid & the Whale or as funny as Kicking & Screaming, Margot at the Wedding is still a good film from Noah Baumbach that features superb performances from Nicole Kidman and Jennifer Jason Leigh. While the film does raise interest in the works of Eric Rohmer, it's suggested to see Pauline at the Beach which is a superior film than Baumbach's own reinterpretation. Fans of Nicole Kidman will be glad to see the actress return to more straightforward, dramatic territory while Jennifer Jason Leigh delivers another fantastic performance as well. In the end, though it's not a great film but not a bad one either, Margot at the Wedding is still a film that is worth watching for its performances.

Noah Baumbach Films: Kicking & Screaming - Highball - Mr. Jealousy - The Squid & the Whale - Greenberg - Frances Ha - While We're Young - Mistress America - De Palma - The Meyerowitz Stories (New and Selected) - Marriage Story - (White Noise (2022 film)) - The Auteurs #41: Noah Baumbach

© thevoid99 2011

The Squid & the Whale

Originally Written and Posted at Epinions.com on 8/9/06 w/ Additional Edits.

Childhood and growing up is often a very difficult stage for anyone. When the subject of parents divorcing come up. For some, it's very painful in where children are forced to take sides and deal with the anger of not having a very stable family. That was something Noah Baumbach had to deal with as a young teen when his own parents, novelist Jonathan Baumbach and Village Voice critic Georgia Brown divorced. In 1995, Baumbach broke through with his independent debut feature Kicking & Screaming about the difficulties of post-college life. His 1997 follow-up Mr. Jealousy about a man's jealousy towards his girlfriend's former relationships didn't do as well in comparison to his debut feature. Baumbach kept a low profile in doing various projects including co-writing 2004's The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou with its director Wes Anderson. In 2005, with Anderson serving as a producer, Baumbach returned with some said was a revealing yet funny look into the world of divorce with The Squid & the Whale.

Written and directed by Baumbach, The Squid & the Whale is about two young boys growing up in the 80s in Brooklyn when their parents had decided to divorce. From the perspective of the older son, he takes on the side of his writer father after learning that his mother had affairs with other men. His younger brother meanwhile, has taken the side of his aspiring writing mother while discovering the world of sex. Baumbach chooses to study and bring humor to the subject of divorce where its revealed to be his most personal film yet. Starring Jeff Daniels, Laura Linney, Jesse Eisenberg, Owen Kline, Anna Paquin, and William Baldwin. The Squid & the Whale is one of 2005's heartbreaking yet funny films about family situations from Noah Baumbach.

It's 1986 in Brooklyn where the Berkman family led by novelist/teacher Bernard (Jeff Daniels) and wife/aspiring writer Joan (Laura Linney) are playing tennis with their sons, 16-year old Walt (Jesse Eisenberg) and 10-year old Frank (Owen Kline). Joan's writing talents is now flourishing while Bernard is still trying to get a publisher for his novel where the marriage is starting to fall apart after years of tension. Bernard has suspected Joan of having affairs with different men for years as he tells Walt while Joan is fed up with Bernard's high-intellectual attitude. Then one day when the kids went to school where Bernard tells them about a family conference for the evening, Bernard and Joan announced that they're going to divorce. While the parents agreed to have joint custody where the boys would stay with a parent for some days, the announcement devastates the young Frank. More problems get complicated when the family isn't sure what to do with the family cat who is also going to live by the same schedule the boys do. Bernard tells the boy that he's moved out to a house some blocks away from Joan's home.

Things become complicated for the boys as Frank remains devastated while Walt gets some advice from friends about joint custody. Walt also starts to be smitten by a student named Sophie (Halley Feiffer) who learned that Walt is going to be part of the school talent show. Frank however, due to the shock of his divorce his becoming frustrated with his tennis lessons as his teacher Ivan (William Baldwin) is concerned. Frank’s behavior also becomes stranger where he starts to engage in drinking alcohol and other things. On the day it was supposed to be Joan's day with the kids, Walt tells his mother that he won't live with her anymore after hearing about her affairs. A split between the boys go on as Frank's anger starts to go towards Bernard, especially when he decided to have one of his students in Lili (Anna Paquin) to live with him. When Walt is about to go on another date with Sophie, Bernard decides to join them where he took the two to see Blue Velvet by David Lynch where Bernard tells Walt some awful advice about Sophie.

Frank decides to run away back to his mother's house where he learned that she is now dating Ivan and had just got her story picked up for a top New York magazine. The young Frank becomes confused by everything as Bernard is now dating Lili in whom Walt has a crush on. Though Frank likes having Ivan around, he remains emotionally confused while Walt's relationship with Sophie becomes troubling due to the advice his father gave him. During the talent contest where his parents, Ivan, Sophie, and Lili attended, Walt wins the contest while claiming that Pink Floyd's Hey You was originally written by him. Walt is still angry about his mother's new relationship where Sophie notices that Walt is eyeing other girls. Walt even attempts to flirt with Lili one night where it becomes a disaster.

The effects of the Berkmans' split finally unfolds when the boys began to have some trouble in school as Frank's strange behavior gets noticed while Walt is accused of plagiarism. Walt is forced into psychological evaluation by a counselor (Ken Leung) where old memories of his childhood starts to emerge. Realizing what's going on all this time, Walt's confusion starts to emerge to the point that the boys are now caught in the middle of a nasty war between their parents.

The film's tag line pretty much sums up what the film is saying... joint custody blows. In what is a very personal story, Noah Baumbach manages to capture all the angst, confusion, and humor that surrounds the world of divorce. While most films about divorce are often very serious or take the route of comedy. Baumbach chose an interesting approach by having the story be more about the boys instead of the parents though they get an equal amount of back story. Baumbach's approach to realism is very evident in not just the affects of the boys but how they too get into conflict where the character of Walt is trying to be his father with all of this intellectual jargon about Kafka when has no idea on who he is. The subplot of Frank's emotional journey is equally as troubling as Walt's own exploration where Frank embarks on activities that are really disgusting but is understandable for his own emotional confusion.

The script that Baumbach concocts is really one of the best scripts ever written since it contains some very funny, realistic dialogue and some great development of characters. The dialogue is often filled with some of the most inane, intellectual commentary about art on how a certain book by Dickens or a film by a director is mentioned and Bernard says, "it's minor stuff". Even some of the funnier dialogue is done with great timing about everything as the characters themselves, notably the Berkmans are done with great depth as Joan admits to her own guilt and her desire to be a writer. Bernard's own struggle to reinvigorate his own writing career and the boys dealing with their own parents divorce and their own individual goals.

On the directing front, Baumbach goes for a realistic yet home-like feel where the film is shot on location in Brooklyn for 23 days in the summer of 2004. His approach is real yet entertaining from some of the funny moments where it feels natural to the more emotional moments that is relatable to anyone remembering when they're young. Overall, Baumbach has created a smart, funny, yet heartbreaking tale of divorce and the affects of its children.

Helping to create a colorful yet grimy Super 16mm feel of mid-1980s Brooklyn is Robert Yeomen, Wes Anderson's cinematographer. While the film does look a bit like some of Anderson's own films, Yeomen goes for a different style to convey the intimacy of the different worlds of the Berkmans while bringing some lighting to the exteriors of Brooklyn. Production designer Anne Ross does great work in getting the look of Brooklyn from the arty world of Joan's house to the delapidate look of Bernard's home while catching some 1980s objects and albums while costume designer Amy Westcott does great work in getting the 80s clothing along with the intellectual look of the parents. Editor Tim Streeto does some great editing where the film has a nice rhythm and use of jump-cuts that gives the film a nice pace for its 81-minute running time. Sound mixer Allan Byer also does great work in providing the intimate atmosphere of the Brooklyn neighborhoods.

The film has a great soundtrack assembled by Randall Poster that features a wonderfully melancholic score from Luna's Dean Wareham and Britta Phillips that plays to the film's humorous vibe and angst-ridden storyline. The soundtrack features some great cuts which is dominated mostly by the work of Bert Jansch plus a couple of songs by Loudon Wainwright III. Other cuts which are mostly 80s music includes Bryan Adams, the Cars, Lou Reed, the Feelies, the famous theme of Risky Business by Tangerine Dream, and a cover of Mr. Mister's Kyrie sung by Owen Kline's sister Greta. Other cuts from John Phillips, Anna and Kate McGarrigle, and Blossom Dearie reveal a folk side to the film while another famous cut that dominates the film is Pink Floyd's Hey You which Baumbach got to use where he thanks Roger Waters in the final credits. Though the song is really about the aftermath of the character Pink's building the wall, in this film, Baumbach chose to reinterpret the song to convey the troubling family circumstances which definitely gives some new meaning as the original song and Eisenberg's performance of it is in great use.

The film overall has a great cast that includes some memorable small performances from Ken Leung as the school counselor, David Benger as Frank's friend Carl, Adam Rose as Walt's friend Otto, and Noah Baumbach's brother Nico as a friend of Bernard who invited him for a college seminar. Halley Feiffer is wonderful in her role as Sophie, a young woman is sweet and caring yet is disturbed by Walt's attitude and his attempt to be like his father as it's an excellent performance from the young actress. Anna Paquin is also excellent as the more sexual vivacious Lili who writes disturbing poetry about her body while trying to seduce Walt and Bernard, in which the latter is even creepier since Jeff Daniels played her father in 1996's Fly Away Home. William Baldwin is great in the role of Ivan, a man who isn't a dim-wit as Bernard claims to be as he is a caring, sensitive teacher who tries to be the best buddy for young Frank as it's a great, restrained performance from the actor.

The film's real breakthrough performance goes to the young Owen Kline, who is son of actors Kevin Kline and Phoebe Cates, that got the part through the suggestion of Baumbach's then-girlfriend/actress Jennifer Jason Leigh. Kline's performance is very natural in the way he conveys the confusion and sadness of a young boy dealing with his parents' divorce while leaning towards stranger paths discovering things like sex and alcohol. It's a great performance from the young actor who proves to have the same chops his parents have. Jesse Eisenberg gives another riveting performance as Walt, by making him less likeable and more confused in his own journey following the divorce. Eisenberg, who made a name for himself with the brilliant Roger Dodger, gets more to do in the way he tries to be like his father while is forced to deal the realities when it comes to girls and why his parents divorced. Overall, it's both Eisenberg and Kline that are the heart of the film and story as these two are actors to watch in the years to come.

Laura Linney brings another great performance as the driven yet frustrated Joan Berkman. Linney conveys all of the warmth and care of a mother while having some great, intense scenes with Eisenberg in the way they convey their tension. Linney is aware that her character is flawed and makes her more complex in understanding her own infidelities where she doesn't make Joan sympathetic or looked with disgust. It's a great performance from Linney as she also some great scenes with Jeff Daniels. Daniels delivers what might be his best performance in a long time since he's often played supporting parts and rarely leading roles. In a role that was supposed to be for Bill Murray, Daniels conveys all of the things that Bernard is. In one word, Bernard is an asshole and Daniels makes him a memorable yet enjoyable character despite saying some of the most awful things about art and people. It's a great performance from Jeff Daniels as he's great with other actors while he manages to bring a lot of depth and complexity to a character as unlikeable as Bernard.

When the film premiered at the 2005 Sundance Film Festival, it was a surprise hit as Baumbach won writing and directing awards while later winning several awards for his screenplay including getting an Oscar nomination for his script. The film also honored Jeff Daniels and Laura Linney for their performances which they both received Golden Globe nods as Daniels got more attention in a role that some said was a comeback. The film was also a comeback for Baumbach as later that year, he married Jennifer Jason Leigh who is set to appear in his next feature that also stars Nicole Kidman. Overall, thanks to a great script, a great cast, and great premise on the affects of divorce, The Squid & the Whale is one of 2005's most heartbreaking and funny films about family.

Noah Baumbach Films: Kicking & Screaming - Highball - Mr. Jealousy - Margot at the Wedding - Greenberg - Frances Ha - While We're Young - Mistress America - De Palma - The Meyerowitz Stories (New and Selected) - Marriage Story - (White Noise (2022 film)) - The Auteurs #41: Noah Baumbach

© thevoid99 2011