Margin Call · written by J.C. Chandor · 2011

Alone in her office, Sarah tries to cry and then to laugh, but cannot express either response.

Scene 60 of 76 · ≈ 1 min on screen · Act three

Act oneAct twoAct three

Begins 1:07 into a 1:36 film

The story so farBefore scene 60

When a junior analyst discovers exposure that could wipe out his investment bank, its executives race to unload the danger on their customers while a veteran executive confronts the price of helping them survive.

Scenes 1–12
The bank’s surviving employees return to familiar routines after firing Eric; Sam manages the floor while his dog is dying.
Scenes 13–23
Peter uncovers a threat to the firm’s survival and forces Will and Sam to respond.
Scenes 24–33
Peter’s work travels upstairs; Sam and the juniors enter Jared’s executive world and expose the scale of the risk.
Scenes 34–44
Management checks the model, debates its implications and brings Tuld into the emergency.
Scenes 45–46
Tuld offers a way for the bank to survive: sell before everyone else understands the risk; Sam names the price in broken trust.
Just before
Scene 57
Tuld offers Sam money and demands his commitment; Sam says he is completely with the firm.
Scene 58
Peter walks through the nearly empty city with his headphones on.
Scene 59
Peter encounters Lucy while buying coffee and warns her to sell when she asks for a tip for her father.
Scene 60
This scene

60INT. SARAH ROBERTSON’S OFFICE - DAY

SARAH is sitting at her desk staring out the window. She calmly gets up and walks over to the door and slowly closes it. Then she reaches out and twists the blinds on the glass wall separating her office from the floor giving herself total privacy. She walks over to her desk and sits down. She reaches over and grabs a box of tissues, methodically preparing to cry, almost like a surgeon preparing to work. She sits at her desk still seemingly calm and collected. Her face starts to tweak just a little, but it just will not give way. Again she tries. And again. She can not cry. She can’t believe it. The deeply tragic look of total failure floods her eyes but still hardly a twitch on her face. Still no tears. Finally she makes a forced noise like a sob, but it isn’t real and she knows it. Then she tries to laugh to herself, she tries again to laugh, but it too is not real. She does feel something, but she simply and very sadly can only openly express even to herself... nothing.