POPCORN EXISTENTIALISM #3: MARGARET, OR THE GROUCHO-MARXISM OF FLORENCE
By: Jorge Mourinha
Tags: Film, Movies, Review

POPCORN EXISTENTIALISM #3: MARGARET, OR THE GROUCHO-MARXISM OF FLORENCE

French director Xavier Giannoli rewrites the tale of wannabe diva Florence Foster Jenkins as a Parisian “lady who lunches” in search of herself

Yes, but can she sing? Catherine Frot as Marguerite, with her facilitating butler (Denis Mpunga) at the piano. Photo by Dusan Martincek © Fidélité Films/Sirena Film/Scope Pictures/Memento Films International

If you look at the name French director Xavier Giannoli gave to the heroine of his new feature, Marguerite, and if you’re an attentive cinephile, you may have an inkling where he’s coming from. Marguerite Dumont, like the great comic actress Margaret Dumont, “the fifth Marx Brother” in the words of Groucho himself, is a more than appropriate name for Catherine Frot’s character — and it’s a stunning, note-perfect performance, always hovering between utter cluelessness regarding how others see her and open-hearted generosity towards those around her. Not unlike Dumont herself.

The tale of this wealthy “lady who lunches” from 1920s Paris, an aspiring but totally talentless artiste who follows her dream of becoming an opera singer, may be inspired by the real story of Florence Foster Jenkins (herself the subject of a Stephen Frears film due in 2016, with Meryl Streep in the role), but it’s not played for laughs at Marguerite’s expense. Instead, it’s a wonderful example of how to respect your character and your story, finding the exact balance of comedy and tragedy, as Frot and Giannoli take their time in unveiling the woman behind the surface.

Married to a building magnate (André Marcon) with little time for her and even less inclination for the arts, with too much time and money on her hands, Marguerite doesn’t look at music as a passing fad, or as a pastime to be explored until she is fed up. She isn’t a mere dilettante trying on things for size; she is forthright and sincere in her love for music and desire to sing, and therein lies the key to Marguerite’s poignancy, well pointed out in the growing respect those around her start finding for her.

How can you be a fraud if you’re looking for yourself? Photo by Dusan Martincek © Fidélité Films/Sirena Film/Scope Pictures/Memento Films International

Even if initially incredulous, Lucien (Sylvain Dieuaide) and Hazel (Christa Théret), the journalist and the singer who work as the viewer’s way into the strange, privileged world of Marguerite, come around to understand the love and dedication she puts into it, the fact that her heart is in it as much as theirs is. So who’s the fraud here? Is it Marguerite for believing in a talent she does not realise she does not have, or those around her who take advantage of her for their own ends?

Giannoli wraps that inside an intriguing, if slightly undeveloped, romantic battle for her heart — between Georges, the inattentive husband who slowly understands the role music plays in her life, and Madelbos (Denis Mpunga), the devoted, over-protective butler who will stop at nothing to realize her dreams. Both love Marguerite unconditionally, and show it in opposite ways, but to what end? And if she is pursuing her dream come hell or high water, how can we fault her?

Marguerite is an expertly crafted piece, shot in a beautifully textured widescreen by DP Glynn Speeckaert like a studio melodrama of the 1940s seen through a 1970s lens, flowing from classic melodrama about a woman following her heart into an ensemble piece about those she touches and back. And none of it would make any sense without Frot’s wondrously generous performance at its heart, her Marguerite both mystifying and welcoming — somewhere between the all-too-human absurdities of Groucho and the all-too-human poignancy of Harpo. Marguerite does not give you an answer, but makes you understand the woman.

Just before the big reveal… Photo by Dusan Martincek © Fidélité Films/Sirena Film/Scope Pictures/Memento Films International

MARGUERITE played at the Venice, Telluride and Toronto film festivals. It is currently in release in France, Germany and a few other European countries, and is slated for release in the UK in March via Picturehouse. No US release date has yet been announced.