One of the highlights of American 1990s cinema, FARGO has a lean, often violent, but mostly hilarious script, as dazzling as the snow which fills so many of the movie's frames.

Cosy in bed with husband Norm (what a perfect name!), with baby on the way, everything is as it should be for our investigator Marge, unforgettably played by Frances McDormand. Then the phone rings. If it isn't a brutal crime, it's a crazy guy she used to be at school with. Marge finds it all incomprehensible. But out she goes, with seemingly effortless courage, trying to level the world out when it goes off kilter.

There are many echoes of Ealing comedy in the Coen Brothers' work, and FARGO's bungling bad guys could easily have come from the pen of William Rose, who created THE LADYKILLERS. It's no wonder Joel and Ethan went for a remake.

The icing on the FARGO cake is an excellent score by Carter Burwell.

A wonderful movie.