What a drag that Noah Baumbach's Margot at the Wedding suggests the happiness of its characters can be traced back to a tree, rotting away according to the Deliverance clan that lives next door to the childhood home of Margot Zeller (Nicole Kidman) and her sister Pauline (Jennifer Jason Leigh). This is a slightly more animate metaphor than the Pandora's-Box-as-museum-diorama from The Squid and the Whale, though it's ultimately as reductive in meaning. Arriving at the manse just prior to Pauline's wedding, Margot climbs the tree only to find it impossible to come down—the same story from way back in the day, with firemen ushering her down and Pauline taking pleasure in her sister's humiliation. Strangely, this show of faux courage and ridicule was a sign of the family's happiness, and the film wonders if Margot and Pauline can ever return to such joy.