While Kenneth Lonergan struggled with Margaret’s final cut, multiple lawsuits further delayed completion, until the film was finally given a very low-key release six years after filming. This sprawling story of teenage angst, featuring a tour-de-force performance from Anna Paquin in the lead role of Lisa, a high school student who believes in absolutes and whose eloquence masks her immaturity, was met with a tidal wave of critical acclaim, if not the audiences to match. Burdened with guilt over her role in a fatal accident, she begins to unravel as she realises that the adult world is one of ambiguity and compromise. (Notes by Kevin Coyne.)

This event is part of our Films Maudits (cursed films) season running throughout August; focusing on films that have been unfairly maligned or overlooked on their original release. The term has it’s origins from a festival in 1949, curated by Jean Cocteau, amongst others, which celebrated these neglected and disregarded films.