When his wife (Laura Linney) unveils a writing talent of her own, jealousy tears the family apart. The couple’s two teenage sons are forced to rebuild their relationships with their parents. They must deal with a myriad of feelings when mom begins dating the younger son’s tennis coach and their father has an affair with the girl his older son has been pursuing.
Margot at the Wedding finds Baumbach once again exploring the darkest aspects of family relationships. Margot (Nicole Kidman) is a Manhattan-based writer who is traveling to the coast with the oldest of her two boys, Claude (Zane Pais), in his film debut) to attend the wedding of her sister Pauline (Jennifer Jason Leigh). Margot had originally RSVP’d no on the invitation to protest what she feels is a bad decision on Pauline’s part. The younger sister has only known her fiancé Malcolm (Jack Black) for less than a year and Margot’s decision is resolute.
From the moment Margot arrives at the family home, the tension between the sisters is palpable. Margot is further dismayed by Malcolm’s unattractiveness and his unemployed status. That night, Margot tells her husband Jim (John Tuturro) all about Malcolm’s various shortcomings. Despite Margot’s judgmental nature, her own marriage is far from perfect. She asked her husband not to travel with her to the wedding because he is completely unaware that Margot intends to leave him. As it turns out, Margot has been having an affair with Pauline’s neighbor and fellow writer Dick Koosman (Ciaran Hinds), who can only be described as a total loser. Pauline discovers the affair, disapproves of the whole thing, and is offended by Margot’s motivation for the visit. While the two sisters claim to be each others closest friends, they look for any opportunity to ridicule each other. Their animosity runs so deep; neither sister hesitates to drag their children Claude and Ingrid (Flora Cross), into their deeply troubled relationship. Claude doesn’t realize his mother is planning to leave his father and Ingrid is unaware that her mother is pregnant with Malcolm’s child.
As Margot and the Wedding moves along the fragile relationships between the characters begin to crack even more. Margot discovers that Dick Koosman is not the man she believed him to be, and her relationship with her son is beginning to suffer because of it. Margot’s relationship with her son is rather uncomfortable. There are some oedipal themes in the way the two conduct their relationship; Margot often kisses him full on the mouth and it seems as though he can’t stand to leave her.
Pauline discovers that Malcolm engaged in pedophilic acts with their babysitter, Maisy (Halley Feiffer); who happens to be Dick´s daughter. As disturbing as the pedophilia is, Pauline and Malcolm don’t have what you could ever consider a romantic relationship. Long before Malcolm’s proclivity is discovered he and Pauline are constantly squabbling. Sex is used primarily as a tool to shut each other up.
Baumbach peels back the layers on one group of family members’ emotional torment. The audience is given a voyeuristic view of three individual’s mental collapses and the effects on their children. We are not spared unpleasantness, its placed front and center for all to see.
Margot at the Wedding is a well-constructed adult character study about family dynamics and relationships. In the end, the characters have learned some things about themselves but not enough to make real change in their lives.
Margot at the Wedding is presented in 16:9 anamorphic widescreen. The picture is clear and pristine. The audio is English Dolby Digital 5.1 surround sound and sounds clean. Along with two trailers, Margot at the Wedding contains “A Conversation with Noah Baumbach and Jennifer Jason Leigh” (12:55) in which the husband and wife discuss their work with Jack Black and Nicole Kidman and their thoughts on the making of the film. I was surprised that Nicole Kidman and Jack Black are not included
