''Margaret's Museum'' is a 1995

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English, ...

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

Plot

Set in the 1940s in Cape Breton Island,

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 Helena Bonham Carter (born 26 May 1966) is an English actress. Known for her roles in blockbusters and independent films, particularly period dramas, she has received various awards and nominations, including a British Academy Film Award a ...

) 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 Clive Russell (born 7 December 1945) is a Scottish actor. He is known for his roles as Chief Inspector Frederick Abberline in ''Ripper Street'', Angus O'Connor in ''Happiness'' and Brynden Tully in the HBO series ''Game of Thrones''. He also a ...

) shows up. Against the wishes of her hard-bitten mother (

Kate Nelligan Patricia Colleen Nelligan (born March 16, 1950), known professionally as Kate Nelligan, is a Canadian stage, film and television actress. She was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for the 1991 film ''The Prince of Tide ...

) 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 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 thes ...

to the memories of all those who have died as a result of the horrific mining conditions.

Cast

as Margaret MacNeil *

as Neil Currie *

Craig Olejnik Craig Olejnik is a Canadian actor. Early life Olejnik graduated from West Kings District High School in Auburn, Nova Scotia. His father was in the military. His grandparents immigrated to Canada from Poland. Career Olejnik is known for his l ...

as Jimmy MacNeil *

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 Andrea Morris (born July 10, 1983) is a Canadian actress. She plays the role of quiet, shy, homeless girl Margaret on 7th Heaven. Her character was first introduced in the Season 11 episode "The Replacements", whom the Camdens eventually deci ...

as Marilyn

Production notes

Part of ''Margaret's Museum'' was filmed in the UK. It carried significance in the local area of

Newtongrange Newtongrange () is a former mining village in Midlothian, Scotland. Known in local dialect as ''Nitten'', or ''Nitten by the Bing'' (), it became Scotland's largest mining village in the 1890s, with the sinking of the Lady Victoria Colliery an ...

, 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