''Margaret's Museum'' is a 1995 British-

Canadian Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of ...

drama film In film and television, drama is a category or genre of narrative fiction (or semi-fiction) intended to be more serious than humorous in tone. Drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional terms that specify its particular super- ...

, directed by

Mort Ransen Mort Ransen (August 16, 1933 – September 4, 2021) was a Canadian film and television director and screenwriter, best known for his Genie Award-winning 1995 film ''Margaret's Museum''. Ransen was born in Montreal, Quebec, and was educated at the ...

and based on

Sheldon Currie Sheldon John Currie (born 1934) is a Canadian author, critic and professor emeritus (St. Francis Xavier University). His books include ''The Glace Bay Miners' Museum'', ''The Company Store'' and ''Down the Coaltown Road''. A movie, ''Margaret's Mu ...

's novel '' The Glace Bay Miners' Museum''.

Plot

Set in the 1940s in

Cape Breton Island Cape Breton Island (french: link=no, île du Cap-Breton, formerly '; gd, Ceap Breatainn or '; mic, Unamaꞌki) is an island on the Atlantic coast of North America and part of the province of Nova Scotia, Canada. The island accounts for 18. ...

Nova Scotia Nova Scotia ( ; ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is one of the three Maritime provinces and one of the four Atlantic provinces. Nova Scotia is Latin for "New Scotland". Most of the population are native Eng ...

, 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" (the mines) has become almost routine. Margaret MacNeil ( Helena Bonham Carter) 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 ( Clive Russell) shows up. Against the wishes of her hard-bitten mother ( Kate Nelligan) 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 A mental disorder, also referred to as a mental illness or psychiatric disorder, is a behavioral or mental pattern that causes significant distress or impairment of personal functioning. Such features may be persistent, relapsing and remitt ...

and, in her surreal world, she decides to create a "special"

museum A museum ( ; plural museums or, rarely, musea) is a building or institution that cares for and displays a collection of artifacts and other objects of artistic, cultural, historical, or scientific importance. Many public museums make th ...

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 Kenneth Welsh, (March 30, 1942 – May 5, 2022) was a Canadian film and television actor. He was best known as the multi-faceted villain Windom Earle in ''Twin Peaks'', for his roles in the films '' The Day After Tomorrow'', ''Adoration'', '' S ...

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.

Awards and nominations

External links

* * {{Golden Shell 1995 films English-language Canadian films Scottish Gaelic-language films Canadian drama films Films based on Canadian novels Films set in Nova Scotia Films about labour Films about mining Films about grieving Films about widowhood Mass media portrayals of the working class Museums in popular culture Fictional museums Films shot in Nova Scotia 1995 drama films British drama films Films shot in Edinburgh Films directed by Mort Ransen 1990s Canadian films 1990s British films