Intelligent, Literate Black Comedy

Rating: 8/10 (8 January 2005)

Jerry Lundegaard, a Minnesota car salesman with financial problems, has come up with what he believes will be a foolproof way of extorting money from his wealthy father-in-law, whom he dislikes. He arranges for two petty criminals to kidnap his wife Jean and hold her for ransom. The idea is that Jerry's father in law will pay the ransom, which will then be split between Jerry and the two crooks. Unfortunately, the plot misfires. After carrying out the kidnapping, the crooks' car is stopped by a policeman, whom they shoot dead in order to evade detection. Matters then get out of control, as the two inept kidnappers desperately try and cover their tracks in an ever-worsening spiral of bloodshed.
Although it details grisly events, the film is closer in tone to a black comedy than a crime drama or horror film. Much of the grim humour arises from the incompetence of Jerry and his two associates, who see themselves as successful criminals but in reality are simply losers, out of their league when they try to pull off a major crime. Unlike some black comedies, however, the tone of the film is not amoral or cynical. The moral order is upheld by Minnesota's own avenging angel,Marge Gunderson, the pregnant female small-town chief of police responsible for investigating the series of murders. At first sight the homely, home-loving Marge seems to be a slow, plodding rustic hick, but her determination and painstaking police work eventually prove to be the downfall of the evildoers.
I was interested to note that the Coen brothers are themselves from Minnesota. Although I have never visited the upper Midwest, it was clear to me that the film has a strong sense of place. The film is set in winter, and there are some eerily beautiful shots of the snow-covered Midwestern landscape. Even to a Brit like me, it was quite clear that the area has its own distinctive dialect- the word "yes", for example, is normally pronounced as "yah", presumably a result of the district's German/Scandinavian heritage- and that this dialect was being used in the film. Another factor that added to the atmospheric feel was the haunting music composed by Carter Burwell.
The film has an intelligent, literate script, and the acting is always of high quality. I was delighted that Frances McDormand won the Best Actress award for her portrayal of Marge- delighted because this was a deliberately unglamorous role, about as far as one can get from Hollywood's standard Charlie's Angels image of female crime-fighters. William Macy was very good as Jerry whom he portrayed not as a criminal mastermind but rather as a harassed, middle-aged businessman desperately trying any scheme, however crazy, that might ease his financial worries. The two criminals were also well played by Steve Buscemi as the neurotic, garrulous Showalter and Peter Stornare as the sullen, taciturn Grimsrud.
I am not too familiar with the work of the Coen brothers; of their other films I have only seen "Intolerable Cruelty" and the disappointing "Miller's Crossing". "Fargo", however, is a marvellous black comedy and work of a very high quality. In my view it was unlucky not to get the Best Picture award for 1997; I certainly preferred it to the dull and overlong "The English Patient". 8/10