Margot Tannenbaum from the Royal Tannenbaum movie experienced many things that

caused her broken heartedness and even contributed to her depression. When we were first

introduced to Margot at the beginning of the movie, we learned that Royal adopted her. Her

adoption into the Tannenbaum family might not have been as notable if she had truly been

accepted as Royal’s child. Instead, when he introduced her to his friends or other people they met

Royal always made it clear she was adopted. We even saw clips of Royal introducing her by

saying: “This is my adopted daughter.” The way Margot was referred to by her father as his

adopted child, though it was true, was degrading. Margot seems to be lonely throughout the

movie though she is constantly surrounded, and she hides a lot of her life away from her family,

Even her own husband does not seem to able to get through to her, which I believe is because

Margot has declared herself as not a real part of the family.

This alienation Margot endured during her early childhood led her down a dark and

lonely road. She started smoking at the age of twelve and even ran away twice, once with her

brother Richie overnight and then again at the age of fourteen when she ran away from boarding

school to find her real family. The fact that Margot was running away from boarding school to

find her family again shows her alienation from the rest of the Tannenbaum family and her

running to find her real family insinuates that she did not want to feel that loneliness anymore.

Meeting her real family did not go as Margot had presumably hoped. Instead she lost

part of her finger and was left with a painful reminder that she did not belong. Later in the movie

her husband and Richie find out all about her hidden life from a detective, and we learn that not

only did she never tell the Tannenbaums about her encounter with her birth family; there were
many things she did not share. She never told them that she smoked or that she had previously

been married. The secrets she kept from her family show that she did not feel close enough to

her family to share her life with them.

Another thing that contributed to Margot’s heartbreak is when she wrote a play for her

birthday party and performed it. She had also invited her father to her birthday party and right

after her performance she went right to him. He did not tell her how proud of her he was. Instead

he basically told her that the play was pointless and made no sense. This hit Margot hard and she

abruptly left her own party. This particular moment where she was looking for her father’s

approval overlaps with Amy Winehouse and the relationship she had with her father. In Amy’s

song rehab she mentions how she would not go to rehab unless her father told her she needed to.

This shows that Amy sought her father’s approval and though he was wrong she believed him.

This overlaps with Margot and Royal’s relationship, as Margot wanted her father to be proud of

her and her play. Therefore, when he told her he did not like it she left. We also learn later in the

movie that she kept writing plays but hesitated to share them with others, because she felt her

father would not approve.

Margot went through many heartbreaks in her life, and I think that the most hurtful one

was that her adopted father never treated her as his own, nor did he give her much

encouragement throughout her life. What a father does and does not do throughout his daughter’s

life can truly impact who she is and who she may become.