The Dude has better taste in rug . Anton Chigurh has a cool haircut . H.I. McDunnough is funnier . Barton Fink could write you a stronger grappling picture . But when you take stock of every scheming humble - life , uninstructed daydreamer , and plain old idiot inthe Coen brothers ' filmography , it ’s tough not to reach a simple conclusion : police foreman Marge Gunderson is the best Coen brothers character ever . And , aw jeez , it ’s not even close .
Not sure you agree with me 100 % on my law oeuvre there ? rent ’s grab a snow coppice with an ice scraper at the oddment of it and dig a piffling deep into what fix Marge the reigning fag ofMinnesota nice .
It’s all about Frances McDormand
The Coens have worked with some incredible histrion – Tom Hanks , Paul Newman , Holly Hunter , and The Jesus , to name a few – but they ’ve never had a collaborator who experience so keyed into their peculiar view of the human experience like Frances McDormand . She ’s appear in seven of their 17 films , playing everything from a married woman having an affair in their introduction neo - noirBlood Simpleto a chain - smoking celluloid editor in chief in their late comedyHail , Caesar!Each time , she ’s humming on a different frequency , threatening to slip the moving-picture show with her cagey intelligence and wit .
But withFargo , she takes midway stage . Fargois a case for McDormand ’s gifts as a performer . Throughout the movie , she plays love , fright , curiosity , exposure , and wonder . As with any great performance , it ’s all in the modest inside information : the way of life she holds her coffee as she approaches a crime scenery , the looking in her eyes as she stare at the TV next to her kip husband , and how she points at the police badge on her chapeau while approaching Gaear Grimsrud as he pushes a human substructure into a wood chipper with a log . Every conclusion feels deliberate .
The writing serves the character
Your best-loved screenwriting manual of arms typically insists that the protagonist of a story must be precede within the first 10 - 15 pages of a screenplay . This is why so many movie begin with a character bump off an alarm clock and rolling out of bottom , establish a boring status quo before the film ’s " inciting incident " interrupts their everyday activeness . necessitate a more literary approach shot , the script forFargodoesn’t introduce Marge , the film ’s most crucial quality , until over 30 moment into the movie . But that risky tale choice attend the movie , and at long last it serves Marge , too .
The Coens like to write retard and cast against character . There ’s something playfulness about seeing a charming know - it - all like George Clooney run a total tit inO Brother , Where Art Thou?or a sweetheart like Oscar Isaac play a caustic jerk inInside Llewyn Davis . But what make Marge so extra is that she ’s not an idiot ; or else , the fictional character plays into McDormand ’s greatest quality as an actress : her intelligence . Marge is a brilliant investigator , capable of right summarize a complex murder scene in minutes , and study everyone from Shep Proudfoot and William H. Macy ’s Jerry Lundegaard to two champagne prostitutes at a local bar with a mix of compassion and skepticism . She ’s the ideal noir hero .
She’s got a great heart
The most common knock against the Coens is that they ’re cynical and that their film are nothing more than ironic genre workout . Critic and frequent Coen detractor J. Hoberman has refer to it as their"artful contempt . “While there ’s certainly an tilt to be made that the brothers have a throw , smirking disdain for some peculiarities of their home commonwealth , it ’s tough to see the Marge sections ofFargoas anything other than a love varsity letter to domesticated walking on air .
Putting by the fact that McDormand is married to Joel Coen , the relationship between Marge and her husband Norm , played with deadpan paragon byfuture Zodiac killerJohn Carroll Lynch , is one of cinema ’s keen portraits of a happy matrimony . It ’s uncomplicated and serene , like a naturescape on a three - cent pestle .
" There ’s more to life story than a niggling money , you know , " Marge tells the homicidal Gaear Grimsrud at the end of the film . " Don’tcha know that ? And here ya are , and it ’s a beautiful twenty-four hour period . " In that placid moment , it ’s easy to assume she ’s yearning for that petty breakfast corner she partake in with her married man . As the movie ends , Marge and Norm are together again , building a blanket fort of kindness , older magazine , and duck painting for their future child as the wind of iniquity amaze against their door .
Fargo | Gramercy Pictures
But she’s not a one-dimensional cartoon
The moral landscape of the Coen universe is complex , filled with penalty and chaos , and Marge is perhaps their most complex innovation . In her role as a law officer , it ’s her Book of Job to dole out justice , but she has her own struggles and doubtfulness . She ’s not double-dyed . There ’s one other graphic symbol in the plastic film that underscore just how vividly crafted she is : Mike Yanagita .
ForFargofans , the Mike Yanagita view , where Marge meets up with a disruptive high schoolhouse schoolfellow who tells her an luxuriant lie , is either the one mistake in an otherwise perfect cross - stitch of a movie or the secret tonality to unlock the whole thing . There aredetailed discussion plug-in threadsandbrilliant blog postsabout it . For many , it ’s the " Is Tony Soprano utter ? " of the Coens ' work .
Does the scene show that Marge has doubts about her marriage ? Does it discover she ’s too trusting of people ? Is it what make her go back to the car franchise and break the suit ? There ’s no definitive response . Like all the best characters , and like material people , she keep a fleck of mystery . That , more than the emphasis or the hat , is why we ’re still blab about her 20 years later .
Academy Awards/YouTube
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Dan Jacksonis a staff writer at Thrillist Entertainment and , likeFargo , he ’s based on a true history . He ’s on Twitter:@danielvjackson .
Gramercy Pictures
Gramercy Pictures
Gramercy Pictures/YouTube
