Margaret ( mar-gə-ret)[4] is a 2011 American epic psychological drama film written and directed by Kenneth Lonergan. The film stars Anna Paquin, Jean Reno, Matt Damon, Mark Ruffalo, J. Smith-Cameron, Jeannie Berlin, Allison Janney, Matthew Broderick, Kieran Culkin, Olivia Thirlby, and Rosemarie DeWitt. Margaret was filmed in 2005 and originally scheduled for release that year by Fox Searchlight Pictures, but was repeatedly delayed while Lonergan struggled to create a final cut he was satisfied with, resulting in multiple lawsuits. The litigation ended in 2014.[5]
Quick Facts Margaret, Directed by ...
Close
While the studio insisted the film's running time could not exceed 150 minutes, Lonergan's preferred version was closer to three hours. Martin Scorsese and Thelma Schoonmaker contributed to editing a 165-minute version that Lonergan approved; the cut was never released because producer Gary Gilbert refused to approve it.[6] Eventually, Fox Searchlight Pictures released the 150-minute film in a limited release in the United States on September 30, 2011, to moderately positive reviews from critics. Some considered it overlong, but it was praised for its acting and later appeared in several publications' lists of the year's best films. Critical praise has grown over time, and Margaret is now regarded as one of the best films of the 2000s and of the 21st century, and was ranked 31st in a BBC critics poll of the 21st century's 100 greatest films.[7]
Lonergan completed a three-hour extended version incorporating extra footage with a revised score and sound mix, which was released on DVD in July 2012.[8]
The film's title is drawn from Gerard Manley Hopkins's poem "Spring and Fall: To a Young Child", which is discussed in Lisa's English class.
A 17-year-old Manhattan student, Lisa Cohen, shopping on the Upper West Side, interacts with bus driver Gerald Maretti as she runs alongside his moving bus; he allows himself to become distracted, leading to a fatal accident by missing a red light, in which a pedestrian, Monica Patterson, is hit by the bus and subsequently dies in Lisa's arms. Initially, Lisa reports to the police that the driver had a green traffic signal, but later, out of remorse, changes her story.
Meanwhile, Lisa's life takes various turns, including a flirtation with her math teacher, Aaron Caije, her decision to lose her virginity to a classmate, Paul Hirsch, and various vehement debates with classmates about politics and terrorism. Lisa has a rocky relationship with her actress mother, with sporadic fighting and Lisa expressing ambivalence toward her mother's boyfriend Ramon.
Lisa confronts Maretti, who first pretends to have forgotten the details of the accident, and then reveals to her in anger that he does remember them, but believes he did nothing wrong, causing Lisa to pursue his firing from the company with passion. In collaboration with Monica's best friend, Emily, and cousin, Abigail, Lisa ultimately becomes involved in a wrongful death lawsuit against the Metropolitan Transit Authority, seeking the dismissal of Maretti, who has caused two previous accidents, as well as monetary damages, which would be awarded to Abigail as the victim's next of kin.
Lisa has sex with Caije, and later has an altercation with Emily, where Emily accuses Lisa of using the whole situation to give dramatic value to her life. An after-show dinner, attended by Lisa, her mother, Emily, and Ramon, ends with Ramon making a remark perceived as anti-Semitic toward Emily. Ramon dies of a heart attack not long after.
The lawsuit reaches a conclusion, with an award of $350,000, but the MTA refuses to fire Maretti, out of concern that it would inflame a labor dispute. Abigail claims the settlement offer, revealing the monetary settlement to have been her primary motivation; this causes Lisa to become very upset and disillusioned with the outcome of the case. She tracks down Caije, and in the presence of another teacher, tells him that she has had an abortion. She expresses doubt about who the father was and mentions that there are several possibilities.
Lisa and her mother plan to attend an opera that Ramon and she were to see before his death. On the way, Lisa sees Maretti driving the same bus that had killed the pedestrian and there is a brief moment where the two see each other. During the opera performance, Lisa's accumulated emotion from the sequence of events bursts out and she and her mother affectionately reconnect, crying together and holding each other as the opera goes on.
Critical response
Margaret received mostly positive reviews from critics. As of June 2020[update], the film holds a 74% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes, based on 100 reviews, with an average rating of 7.15 out of 10. The critical consensus states, "A surfeit of ideas contributes to Margaret's excessive run time, but Anna Paquin does an admirable job of guiding viewers through emotional hell."[12] The film also holds a score of 61 out of 100 on Metacritic (based on 27 critics), indicating "generally favorable reviews".[13]
For her role as Lisa Cohen, Paquin shared the 2011 Best Actress Award from the London Film Critics Circle and received a nomination for Best Actress from the Chicago Film Critics Association. She placed first in critics' polls from the LA Weekly, the Village Voice, and the International Cinephile Society.[14][15]
On December 23, 2011, Fox Searchlight sent screeners of the film to AMPAS members.[citation needed]
Margaret earned five-star reviews from Time Out, The Daily Telegraph, and The Guardian.[16]
It also ranked 31st in a 2016 BBC poll of the 21st century's greatest films.[7] It has made many best of decade lists for the 2010s. In 2019, critic Richard Brody named it one of the 27 best movies of the decade.[17]
Some critics have cited the film as an example of a great New York City movie and a portrait of a traumatized Manhattan in the wake of 9/11.[18][19]
Box office
Despite being well received critically, Margaret was commercially unsuccessful. The film was given a limited release in North America in 14 theaters and earned $46,495. In the UK, it débuted on only one screen in one cinema – Odeon Panton Street in London. Such was the interest in the film that it took £4,595 in its opening weekend, giving it by some margin the highest screen average of any film on release at the time.[16] In France, it débuted on only one screen in one cinema – Publicis Champs Elysées in Paris.[20] The worldwide total for the film was $623,292, well below its $14 million production budget.[3]
Legacy
Due to critical reevaluation, Margaret is now regarded as one of the best films of its decade, and was ranked 31st in a BBC critics poll of the 21st century's 100 greatest films.[7]
