Margaret

Margaret is an energetic girl with average problems, countless dreams, a typical tendency to bicker, and a talent for deep empathy. But then an accident shatters everything and dramatically impacts her life, just as the portrayal of the tragedy itself sets the mood for the film as a whole. In this way, the director asks viewers to help carry the protagonist’s burden, making the audience all the better able to handle subsequent ambiguous events. Margaret tries to come to terms with what’s happened and to get back some semblance of her former carefree life. The spontaneous girl has been waylaid not only by the weight of responsibility but also by the sudden loss of the delight she once derived from communicating with others. Possessed of an exceptional sense of detail and an awareness that, beyond its more blatant situations, true drama derives from moments of silence and uncertainty, the film offers the story of a mixed-up girl whom it is ultimately hard to judge. Thanks to the overall care taken and to an understanding of the characters, the faces in the final scene are more than figures in a drama. They are alive. (Karlovy Vary International Film Festival)