MARGARET'S MUSEUM Movie Review

In a small New Brunswick town in the 1940s, Margaret (Helena Bonham Carter) neglects her mother's stern and hard-earned advice by falling in love with a man who works in the area's dangerous mines. Though he tries to stay away, the disastrous economy leaves him no alternative. Yes, there's an inevitability and even a predictability about the direction in which events will unfold in director Mort Ransen's Margaret's Museum, but the wonder is how fresh and alive so much of the movie is. Both Carter and Kate Nelligan, who plays Margaret's emotionally devastated mother, are extraordinary, and Clive Russell takes Margaret's headstrong lover Neil in unexpected, quirky directions. This is a handsome romantic tragedy suffused with both feeling and social conscience, but blessedly little easy sentimentality. Winner of a number of Canada's Genie Awards, including Best Actress, Supporting Actress, Screenplay, and Score.

NEXT STOP … Germinal, Kameradschaft, dalen ‘31

1995 (R) 114m/C CA GB Helena Bonham Carter, Clive Russell, Kate Nelligan, Kenneth Welsh, Craig Olejnik; D: Mort Ransen; W: Mort Ransen, Gerald Wexler; C: Vic Sarin; M: Milan Kymlicka. Genie Awards ‘95: Best Actress (Bonham Carter), Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Costume Design, Best Supporting Actor (Welsh), Best Supporting Actress (Nelligan), Best Score. VHS CAF