Margaret

What it’s about:

Margaret centres on a 17-year-old New York City high-school student who feels certain that she inadvertently played a role in a traffic accident that has claimed a woman’s life.

In her attempts to set things right she meets with opposition at every step.

Torn apart with frustration, she begins emotionally brutalizing her family, her friends, her teachers, and most of all, herself.

She has been confronted quite unexpectedly with a basic truth: that her youthful ideals are on a collision course against the realities and compromises of the adult world. 

What the critics thought:

“Margaret comes apart at the seams as you watch it, but it gives off a lovely light. Seek it out. You can thank me later.”
– Peter Travers, Rolling Stone

“Paquin creates that rarest of things: a profoundly unsympathetic character who is mysteriously, mesmerically, operatically compelling to watch.”
– Peter Bradshaw, The Guardian

“Margaret was filmed in 2005 and has reportedly been delayed because of persistent editing problems. These do not seem to have been solved.”
– A.O. Scott, New York Times