Margot at the Wedding

I saw Margot at the Wedding over Thanksgiving break. I could probably go on and on about this film, but I don't really feel like it at the moment and I don't want to go too much into detail for those of you who may be reading this who haven't seen it. In fact, you may want to stop right now if you haven't seen it. I will create a new paragraph just in case.

What I do want to say is that it was one of the most exciting films I've seen in a long time. I should clarify in saying that it was exciting to me, that it felt free and wonderful, but the exciting "action" in the film is primarily emotional abuse. I loved the performances (JJL is, as always, amazing), style (in both editing and cinematography), and its structure and the world the film created. You could see the influence of the French New Wave, and it was beautiful. The effect is that of taking the most exciting aspects of cinema and leaving out the boring parts (e.g. exposition, rigid structure, continuity, making characters likable).

I've made it a habit to not read reviews before I see a film (which often results in the hoarding of the entertainment sections of newspapers), as I do not want to influence or taint my initial viewing of the film. I have subsequently read some reviews and they are pretty tough on the film. I am sure that there are some that really enjoy it as well, so generally I would say that it is a polarizing film, not one for everyone. And yes, I noticed that the film creates an insular world of self-absorbed people who are well enough off to be so neurotic about such small things. And yes, if I met any of these people in the real world (with the exception of Claude, who plays Nicole Kidman's son, who I adored from the first moment I laid eyes on him in the trailer) I would probably not like them. However many faults I may extract after intellectualizing the film, I can simply recall how much I enjoyed watching the film, being surprised by the film, feeling like this was a real world I was watching onscreen, the small details that the film gets right, the colors, the camerawork, the final shot, Claude, Ingrid, the conversations, the humor, and the many layers of the film and the refusal to pull those layers off for the audience, who is forced to try to find ways to work through them. I want to see it again.