As much as I love the performances of, William H. Macy and Steve Buscemi, in the Coen Brothers' much celebrated, Fargo (1996), there is one performance that did far more than intrigue me or make me laugh--if you don't see where I'm going with this just look up at the title.
Marge Gunderson is your typical, small-town, satirical police chief: she likes buffets, fast-food, and small talk. She is also a text book example of the old adage: never judge a book by its cover. The chief also has uncanny intuition, guts, and a keen intellect... she's also seven months pregnant.
McDormand truly achieves something remarkable with this character, something that the other actors don't, she brings about a duality of comedy and poignant humanity. The latter is much more difficult to pull off, and in conjunction with the first is nearly impossible--let me explain.
In order to truly reach the viewers, your target as an actor, you have to be completely convincing; facial cues, timing, body language, intonation, accent, and aura begin to scratch the surface of what such a performance entails. Faltering in any department may result in an untimely and/or a trite performance. Measuring the success of an actor's performance is difficult; when one attempts to evaluate an actor categorically it just doesn't work. Not to mention, it is unnecessary, since, we humans have a built in instantaneous reaction to such things.
The point is, Frances McDormand nailed her role as Marge. Very few performances have had a similar effect of endearingly making me laugh, and making me tear up with feeling. The effect is much like that of ginger (humor) clearing your palate for more sushi (something substantial).
The opening scenes, that involve Marge, reveal a young, woman, police chief that is so bland and dopey it hurts; but at the same time, we perceive a sharp individual who knows what she is doing. Marge is so casual about her investigation into this triple homicide case that it is hard tell if she even cares at all. She seems to put just as much thought into eating (the pointed editing and writing of the Coen's help underline this point). This is a little woman that has her little icy world figured out, right down to her inane, midwestern expressions.
One of the more comical scenes in the movie takes place in the Radisson Hotel Restaurant, where Marge is meeting up with an old friend that recently reconnected with her. We watch as the old friend talks about his "dead wife," and then makes a humiliating pass at pregnant Marge. The scene is funny, which gets your guard down, but is is also reveals a more human, and less conventionally human-side of Marge. We also learn that Marge has strong integrity and loyalty. Significantly, Marge ends up surprised to find out that this old friend is really just a lying creep.
Marge nervously draws her handgun as she follows the sound of a gurgling wood chipper through the trees. Her intuition has led her to the murderer, who is caught red-handed. The criminal flees into the white open field (mirroring his own murder just nights before), the pregnant woman fires a couple times before striking the suspect in the leg, taking him down.
Moralizing at the end, as her voice slightly cracks:
"So that was Mrs. Lundegaard on the floor in there. And I guess that was your accomplice in the wood chipper. And those three people in Brainerd. And for what? For a little bit of money. There's more to life than a little money, you know. Don'tcha know that? And here ya are, and it's a beautiful day. Well. I just don't understand it."
The last few scenes epitomize McDormand's performance as a beautiful blend of hilarity and humanity. The film ends with Marge praising her husband for having his painting of a duck selected as the official image of the three-cent stamp. She, a legitimate heroine of a huge homicide investigation, selfishly appropriates the focus to her husband's accomplishments. We are left wanting to laugh at how ridiculous the situation is, but we just can't. Is she for real? How should we react? Flawless.
No comments:
Post a Comment