# Miss Marx

Miss Marx is a 2020 biographical period drama film about Eleanor Marx, written and directed by Susanna Nicchiarelli. A co-production between Italy and Belgium, this English-language film stars Romola Garai as Marx and Patrick Kennedy as her lover Edward Aveling.
It had its world premiere in the main international competition section at the 77th Venice Film Festival on 5 September 2020.

## Plot

The educated and brilliant Eleanor Marx, the youngest daughter of Karl Marx, is at the forefront of promoting socialism in the United Kingdom, participating in workers' struggles, fighting for women's rights and the abolition of child labor. In 1883, she met Edward Aveling, a talented playwright but a selfish and wasteful man. While he is intent on getting into debt and consuming the legacy left to Eleanor by Friedrich Engels, Edward does not realize that he is also consuming the entire existence of his devoted companion, who, although aware that she is experiencing the same "moral oppression" imposed by the patriarchy and condemned by her, she is unable to redeem her own happiness, and ultimately not even her own life. In the scene where Eleanor and Edward play the famous dialogue between Nora and Helmer during the staging of Ibsen's A Doll's House, the two characters seem to trace through the words of another the unjust fate destined for Eleanor as well as for many others: the fate of a woman conditioned and limited throughout her life by the male figures most dear to her. In 1898 Eleanor loses all energy and, addicted to opium, kills herself.

## Cast

* Romola Garai as Eleanor Marx
* Patrick Kennedy as Edward Aveling
* John Gordon Sinclair as Friedrich Engels
* Felicity Montagu as Helene Demuth
* Karina Fernandez as Olive Schreiner
* Emma Cunniffe as Laura Marx
* George Arrendell [nl] as Paul Lafargue
* Célestin Ryelandt as Johnny Longuet
* Oliver Chris as Friedrich 'Freddy' Demuth
* Alexandra Lewis as Aveling's second wife
* Georgina Sadler as Gerty
* Miel van Hasselt as Wilhelm Liebknecht
* Freddy Drabble as Havelock Ellis
* Barney White as Michael
* Stevie Raine as Phillip
* Philip Gröning as Karl Marx

## Production

Principal photography began on 18 November 2019 at the Royal Charterhouse [it] in Collegno, Turin.

## Release

The film had its world premiere in the main international competition section at the 77th Venice Film Festival on 5 September 2020. It was released in Italy by 01 Distribution on 17 September 2020.

## Reception
### Box office

Miss Marx grossed a worldwide total of $625,370.

### Critical reception

On review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of 46% based on 13 reviews, with an average of 5.5/10.

### Awards and nominations

* David di Donatello Awards (2021)
** David di Donatello for Best Producer to Marta Donzelli, Gregorio Paonessa, Joseph Rouschop and Valérie Bournonville
** David di Donatello for Best Costumes to Massimo Cantini Parrini
** David di Donatello for Best Score to Gatto Ciliegia contro il Grande Freddo and Downtown Boys
** Nomination for David di Donatello for Best Film
** Nomination for David di Donatello for Best Director to Susanna Nicchiarelli
** Nomination for David di Donatello for Best Cinematography to Crystel Fournier
** Nomination for David di Donatello for Best Sets and Decorations to Alessandro Vannucci, Igor Gabriel and Fiorella Cicolini
** Nomination for David di Donatello for Best Makeup to Diego Prestopino
** Nomination for David di Donatello for Best Hair Design to Domingo Santoro
** Nomination for David di Donatello for Best Visual Effects to Massimiliano Battista
** Nomination for David di Donatello for Best Sound to Adriano Di Lorenzo, Pierpaolo Merafino, Marc Bastien, Pierre Greco and Franco Piscopo