The story behind Margaret is nearly as fascinating and as complicated as the movie itself, writer/director Kenneth Lonergan’s follow-up to his masterful 2000 sensation You Can Count on Me taking almost six full years from the end of principal photography to ultimately see the light of day. Battles with the studio and a protracted editing process later, the movie was quietly shuffled into a handful of theatres in September of 2011 in hopes it would quickly fade away and never be heard from again, Fox Searchlight essentially abandoning the flick even though it featured the likes of Anna Paquin, Matt Damon, Mark Ruffalo, Allison Janney, Jean Reno and Matthew Broderick in principal roles.

Anna Paquin in Margaret © Fox Searchlight

But since then, the strangest thing has happened. Those who took the time to watch Margaret, the few who have been blessed with the opportunity to see what this strange, obtuse, ephemeral, overlong, self-indulgent and wretchedly emotion melodrama of angst, heartbreak, guilt, forgiveness and growing-up has had to offer, all of them haven’t been able to stop talking about it. Love it, hate it, find yourself somewhere oddly in-between, all these reactions have had quite an effect on viewers, making Lonergan’s 150-minute opus a majestic near-masterpiece impossible to dismiss or discount.

Strike that, this movie isn’t a near-masterpiece, it is in fact an instant one, and quite frankly had I seen it in 2011 it would have likely been number two or three on my list of the best films of the prior year. Lonergan beat me up, assaulted me, stripped me bare and left all my expectations of self and of sacrifice there on the theatre floor for all to see. At the same time, he elevated and elated me, got me to experience emotional plateaus I hadn’t in ages, taking me back to the netherworld of teenage adulthood where the two joined together so furiously one could never be quite sure if they would ever rip themselves apart. Lines are crossed, words are spoken and actions have decided consequences, and while the extremes are polarizing – sometimes even vexing – getting to them is such a magnificent beatific experience the emotional torture is exuberantly worthwhile.

The film revolves around Paquin’s Lisa Cohen, a 17-year-old New York prep school student who abuses her teachers, shirks her studies and walks around Manhattan as if she were the most entitled entity on the face of the planet. But a tragedy involving a bus and a pedestrian changes everything, the young woman forced to think about things other than herself for maybe the first time. Yet, nothing she does can take her own insecurities, hew own desires to be the lead in her own shimmery melodrama out of the equation, the path she begins to tread down worn away by selfishness and regret leading to a reconciliation with her Broadway actress mother (J. Smith-Cameron) she never could have anticipated.

This is just the tip of the iceberg. Lonergan doesn’t mince words, doesn’t take shortcuts, weaving a complex web of ennui and dramaturge Tolstoy would have been proud of. He spends a lot of time giving the other players in Lisa’s one-woman real life show their own spotlights, allowing them to come to life and take on dimensions that are startling and oftentimes direct. The movie is almost Altman-esque at times, and that’s both good and bad, and while a serious case could be made that some restraint and some pulling back might have been in order it is doubtful I’d have been struck as straight to bone by all of this had the filmmaker scaled back in any way whatsoever.

Paquin gives the performance of her young career, and it is a pity Fox Searchlight didn’t do more to get people to see the film because she easily should have been one of the five 2011 Best Actress nominees. This is a raw, unparalleled achievement for the starlet, showcasing vulnerabilities and nuances I haven’t seen from her in ages, if ever. She is front and center, always there, in virtually every scene, transcending the celluloid in a way that is as breathtaking as it is realistic making an indelible imprint sure to stand the test of time.

Margaret won’t be for everyone, I get that, but for those adventurous enough to take a chance watching Lonergan’s sophomore outing is an adventure impossible to forget or resist. No matter what the final reaction is, no matter how extreme one feels as they exit the theatre, this is a movie that forces the audience to take notice, compels them to have an opinion, not just about it, but about them as well. I am in awe of what this film accomplishes, and for the life of me I don’t know how anyone else can’t feel the same after they bear witness to it for themselves.

Film Rating: êêêê (out of 4)

Additional Links

• Margaret Theatrical Trailer