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Frances McDormand is tremendously endearing as Marge Gunderson, a determined, keen-nosed cop who never gives up even though she is heavy with child, a characteristic that surely must be unique in the history of movie sleuthdom. The excellent Coen Brothers, Ethan who produces and Joel who directs, return to their chilly northern roots for this outstandingly quirky thriller which turns out to be an extremely engaging black comedy. The wintry settings are vivid, and make much of local idiosyncrasies. For instance, ordinary folk in Minnesota have an odd, sing-songy Swedish manner of speech, full of laconic sentences ending "Yah?" and the Coens have great fun with the dialogue. The plot concerns a slimy car salesman (William H Macy) who has hatched a ludicrous kidnap scheme in which his wife is supposed to be held to make her millionaire father cough up a ransom that will solve his money problems.

He hires two no-hoper crooks (Steve Buscemi and Peter Stormare) to enact the deed which, predictably, is hopelessly botched, leaving corpses in the snow, and drawing the local police of Brainerd, Minnesota, headed by the redoubtable Marge onto their trail. The beauty of the film is in the subtle detail of the dialogue and performances which continue to enchant on repeat viewings. Visually, it is magnificent. The opening snowscape is so intensely white that you could be fooled into thinking something had gone horribly wrong with the projector (or your television) until an enormous kitsch statue of Paul Bunyan suddenly looms out of nowhere.

By the way, an in-joke of the film is the statement that it is a true story. In fact, it isn't anything of the sort, but it is a handsome fiction.