Marge Gunderson – Fargo (1996)
In the movie Fargo, written by Joel and Ethan Coen, Marge Gunderson is like a freight train. Played by Frances McDormand, she is the heavily pregnant Police Chief in Brainerd, Minnesota, and she moves through the film at a steady, relentless pace – slowly but surely bearing down on her suspects with unwavering determination. Called upon to investigate a homicide, she unpicks a complex and detailed web of crime and double-cross, until she finally gets her man.
She asks for help when she needs it – when the “prowler needs a jump”, for example – and when she doesn’t need it, she gets the job done herself. She travels to the city to follow up leads, and repeatedly returns to her suspects to try and put all the pieces together. Despite being in a physical condition that often has women in cinema treated as especially vulnerable and fragile, Marge simply continues to perform her job to the best of her ability, and neither receives nor demands any special treatment from the men around her.
In addition, and most notably, she never becomes hysterical, and never raises her voice – even when faced with true horror in the final act. In a role that many other writers would deliver as hormonally imbalanced and explosive, Marge is as measured and reasonable as they come – just like real women.
