Margaret's Museum

Margaret's Museum is a 1995 Canadian-British drama film directed by Mort Ransen and based on Sheldon Currie's novel The Glace Bay Miners' Museum. It stars Helena Bonham Carter, Clive Russell, and Kate Nelligan. The film won six Genie Awards, including acting awards for Bonham Carter and Nelligan.

Plot

Set in the 1940s in Cape Breton Island, Nova Scotia, the film tells the story of a young girl living in a coal mining town where the death of men from accidents in "the pit" has become almost routine. Margaret MacNeil has already lost her father and an older brother and for her, life alone would be preferable to marrying a mine worker—that is until the charming Neil Currie shows up. Against the wishes of her hard-bitten mother they marry, but, before long, financial woes lead to his doing what every other uneducated young man does in the town: take a job underground. His death in the mine, along with her younger brother, drives Margaret to a mental breakdown and, in her surreal world, she decides to create a "special" museum to the memories of all those who have died as a result of the horrific mining conditions.

Cast

Helena Bonham Carter as Margaret MacNeil
Clive Russell as Neil Currie
Craig Olejnik as Jimmy MacNeil
Kate Nelligan as Catherine MacNeil
Kenneth Welsh as Angus MacNeil
Andrea Morris as Marilyn

Production notes

Part of Margaret's Museum was filmed in the UK. It carried significance in the local area of Newtongrange, Scotland as the screen debut of local TV celebrity David MacBeath, who appeared as an extra in the film.

Critical reception

Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times gave the film 3 ½ stars out 4. He praised the cast and wrote Margaret's Museum "is one of those small, nearly perfect movies that you know, seeing it, is absolutely one of a kind."

Awards and nominations

In 2001, an industry poll conducted by Playback named Margaret's Museum the 14th best Canadian film of the preceding 15 years.