Margaret on the big screen was worth the wait
After waiting for a movie for almost 50 years, can it ever live up to expectations? In the case of the film adaptation of Judy Blume’s classic 1970 coming of age novel Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret, the answer is a resounding yes.
Of course, as a Gen X woman, I may be a bit biased. My eyes welled up just watching the trailer, and the tears rolled down my cheeks during the film. Nostalgia is a strange and powerful thing, and what’s remarkable about director Kelly Fremon Craig’s adaptation is that, if you’re of a similar age, when you watch the film not only will you remember the book itself, but memories of your life while you were reading it will come rushing back. And all those intense, confused, and excited feelings of growing up will suddenly seem just as fresh and raw and real as they did those many long years ago.
This emotionally immersive effect can be attributed to a number of smart choices by the filmmakers. First, Craig proved herself an empathetic chronicler of coming of age in her similarly wonderful Top 10-worthy 2016 film The Edge of Seventeen, so having her direct Margaret is a no-brainer. Second, Blume herself is Craig’s screenplay co-writer here, which explains why the film parallels the book so well. Finally, Craig and Blume keep the story set in 1970–the exact year the book was released–thereby immediately engaging their target audience on a visceral level. Yes, the issues in Margaret are timeless, but Margaret herself is very much of her time, and Craig and Blume deserve credit for not modernizing Margaret into a TikTok-loving, cell phone addicted tween.
Instead, Abby Ryder Fortson plays 11-year-old Margaret just as Blume created her in 1970. The story follows Margaret as she starts 6th grade following her family’s move from New York City to suburban New Jersey. Already unhappy at having to leave her comfort zone and her beloved grandmother Sylvia (Kathy Bates), Margaret faces the additional challenges of making friends and experiencing puberty, constantly worrying if she’s normal as she navigates the middle space between childhood fun and urgently wanting to grow up. Just as in the book, the film’s scenes of Margaret and her friends talking about periods, bras, and boys are funny, yes, but also achingly honest and tender, and viewers will find themselves both cringing and laughing in recognition as Margaret practices wearing sanitary pads and chanting “We must, we must increase our bust!” with her friends.
Margaret’s reputation as the “period book”, though, may make people forget that one of its major themes is actually religion. Just as at a young age we begin to discover our bodies and sexuality, early adolescence is also a time of exploring faith and what form that may take for us. Margaret’s parents Barbara (Rachel McAdams) and Herb (Uncut Gems writer/director Benny Safdie) are Christian and Jewish, respectively, and they’ve left Margaret alone to decide what she may want to practice–if anything–when she’s older. A school project sets Margaret on a path of sampling different religions (temple with her Jewish grandmother; a Baptist church with her friend Janie (Amari Price) ), thus giving the film its title: Margaret talks to God about her problems, and waits for answers. A volatile confrontation between Margaret’s estranged Christian grandparents and her Jewish grandmother becomes a turning point in Margaret’s quest to understand herself. No spoilers, but what she concludes is poignant and startling wise.
That these more serious themes are delivered with Craig and Blume’s signature warmth and compassion keeps the film from coming across preachy or didactic. The picture always feels true and relatable, and the film’s set designers are to be commended for their sharp attention to detail. Not since Mad Men has a film gotten period particulars so right: From the Tab and Fresca Margaret and her friends drink to the Keds they wear, the banana seats on their bikes, the Highlights magazine poking out of the mail holder and the lemon yellow rotary phones, the film is a treasure trove of 1970s aesthetics.
And Craig and Blume’s stellar cast brings this historical material to life in ways that will please fans and newcomers alike. McAdams is gentle and loving as Barbara, who gets more of a backstory here than in the book, as she struggles with a dilemma that began to gain traction in the ‘70s: how to balance being an attentive mother and wife with creativity and work outside the home. Bates, too, shines as Sylvia, making us wish she could be our Grandma, too, with her zest for life and fierce love for Margaret.
But it’s Fortson, as Margaret herself, who rightly commands the picture. A bundle of contradictions – confident, yet insecure; adventurous, yet nervous; independent, yet scared; and intuitive, yet thoughtful, Margaret is all of us who have teetered on the cusp of becoming exactly who we were meant to be. “It gets tiring trying so hard all the time, doesn’t it?” Barbara consoles Margaret at one point, and we know exactly what she means. Whether we’re 11 or 50, we can all identify with Margaret and her struggles to fit in.
On a final note, fans of Margaret should also treat themselves to the documentary Judy Blume Forever that premiered on Amazon Prime a few weeks ago. It’s equally as terrific as Craig’s film, and will leave you wondering why more movies haven’t been made of Blume’s many revered books (the only other theatrical feature to date was Tiger Eyes in 2012, directed by Blume’s son). With Margaret now completed at long last, the door is open for the other film adaptations. Gen X can’t wait.
—————————-
Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret opens today at Bay Area theaters.
