When sisters attack: ‘Margot at the Wedding’

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Went to a screening of ‘Margot at the Wedding’ and it made me pine for a family I never had. The same goes for Jennifer Jason Leigh and Nicole Kidman, who seem to have conveniently rubbed the serial number from their past in this brilliant and funny movie.

The film, directed by Noah Baumbach (husband to Leigh), explores the toe-curling cruelty that exists between competitive siblings. Sisters. I think this picture (above) well sums up the onscreen relationship between the two. Leigh -- a bohemian single mom engaged to an engaging slacker played by Jack Black -- is constantly pedaling behind her successful, pool cue-thin novelist sister, a.k.a Kidman.

Kidman is as cold blooded as a croc and when she’s not striking out at her sister or son, she seems to want to bite off her own arm. Leigh, passive-aggressive but generally sweet, loses a few emotional limbs to her sis, but holds her own.

I love the look of the film and the costumes by Ann Roth. Kidman’s deceptively pert pink hat, Leigh’s clogs and tunics. Go see it. Take your sister.

Photo credits: Paramount Vantage