by Eric Blume
With Margot at the Wedding, writer-director Noah Baumbach makes an Éric Rohmer film. The character’s names are French, it’s lit like a French movie, cut like a French movie, and has the rhythms and languorousness of, specifically, a Rohmer movie. But, and this may be a hot take: Rohmer never made a film as textured and exquisite as the one Baumbach makes here. Rohmer’s films often deal with an indecisive man-child choosing between two women: there’s a lovely wistfulness about them, but they’re repetitive and limited in depth.
Baumbach captures the Rohmer melancholia, but he fleshes out all the relationships in the film so they are deeply lived-in and layered. The film is all frayed edges, with unpredictable touches and uncomfortable complexities…
In short, writer Margot (our Nicole) travels with her son Claude (Zack Pais) to attend the wedding of her estranged sister Pauline (Jennifer Jason Leigh) to unemployed musician Malcolm (Jack Black). Nicole is in masterful control with this very difficult character. Baumbach smartly sets up Margot to be intelligent, extraordinarily tender and fun with her teenage son, and somewhat regal and untouchable. He and Kidman slowly and cunningly perform a very, very slow pullback until we see that Margot is truly a monster.
We don’t see characters like Margot often onscreen, and certainly not played by one of Hollywood’s leading actresses. To say she’s unlikeable is perhaps one of the warmer compliments you can pay Margot, because she’s quite horrifying. There’s a reference later in the film to the fact that perhaps Margot has borderline personality disorder, which seems just about right considering her behavior throughout the film.
Kidman stays tetchy and livewire throughout. She does this marvelous dance where she takes her sister and her son close to her in intimate, loving ways, only to throw them to the ground the next instance. She insults each of them in brutal ways, following up with a halting “but that’s okay” or “I still love you.” Kidman barrels mercilessly into the abusive push-pull energy that drives this character. You believe that the two people closest to her fall for her trap every time, because she’s compelling and mesmerizing.
Baumbach exploits her height and beauty awesomely…she’s just this magnetic creature that everyone is drawn to. She’s not a regular person: she’s electrifying in the way that compellingly awful people often are. Kidman has a remarkable moment at a book reading where her interviewer upturns the conversation towards something shockingly personal. Watching Kidman struggle to keep control, in a character whose entire being rests on control of the narrative and manipulating others, is a true wow. She knows that she’s caught, and that everyone in the audience knows she’s caught, but her inability to recover is unnerving. Kidman slays this scene, and we strangely feel for this sociopath…she becomes fully real in front of us for a moment.
Kidman’s work with Zack Pais, who plays her teenage son, really packs a punch. She’s shockingly affectionate with him, tousling his hair, holding him, kissing his face. She abuses his trust and adoration for her in gross, damaging ways, and you can witness the ways in which she’s deeply fucking him up. Kidman makes it clear that Claude is the embodiment of how much she resents having to be a parent, but also the central vessel for her neediness and force.
And Kidman’s duet with Jennifer Jason Leigh here is extraordinary. In just their first few, short scenes together, they display a wide gamut of love, resentment, disgust, disappointment, and tenderness. The two have a fantastic, out-there moment when Margot makes an awful rape joke and the two of them burst into maniacal laughter, falling over each other in shared glee. These two great actresses find this moment naturally and commit to it full-stop.
If this weren’t a Nicole Kidman tribute article, we could go on for paragraphs about how superb JJL is in this film: it’s absurd she wasn’t nominated for an Oscar for this performance. The dance the two of them perform together is sweet, painful, and disturbing, and they’re always playing on several levels together.
For me, Margot at the Wedding is one of the most mature, interesting, and provocative performances Nicole has ever given. Once again, she’s the perfect muse for Baumbach-as-Rohmer: fully naturalistic, imperious in the French style, but repellent and unforgiving. It’s a ravishing piece of acting in a wonderful film.
Previously in the Nicole Kidman TFE Tribute:
- Introductiom (1983-1989) - Early Australian films
- Billy Bathgate (1991) – her first Golden Globe nomination!
- Malice (1993) - when Kidman met Sorkin
- To Die For (1995) - her first Golden Globe win!
- The Portrait of a Lady (1996) - a Campion experiment
- Practical Magic (1998) - comfort food cinema
- Eyes Wide Shut (1999)- Kubrick. Cruise. Kidman.
- Moulin Rouge! (2001) - her first Oscar nomination!
- The Others (2001) - a foray into horror
- The Hours (2002) - the Oscar victory!
- Dogville (2003) - Lars von Trier's masterpiece
- Birth (2004) - her best performance ever?
- Chanel N°5: The Film (2004) - a glamorous miniature
- The Stepford Wives (2004) - horror remade as comedy
- Bewitched (2005) - a magical misfire
After this period of mainstream misery and misunderstood indie gems, Nicole Kidman had a resurgence in the 2010s. It all started with the film that earned her a third Best Actress Oscar nomination. Rabbit Hole comes next in this tribute.