25 of the most memorable TV and movie siblings of all time

Maggie and Rose Feller – In Her Shoes

Anyone who has a sister will recognize the underlying theme of the impossibility of female siblings. Although I know brothers can complain about the woes of growing up with one, there is nothing more beautiful, infuriating, satisfying, and depleting than the relationship between two sisters.

Maggie Feller, the proverbial “squeaky wheel,” is the younger, more irresponsible sister to the tightly wound Rose. Maggie has always had to take care of her younger sibling, and the crushing pressure turns Maggie into a tight fist of a human, with little attitude for fun or frivolity. It’s a pretty traditional big/little sister paradigm when Maggie moves in with Rose and systematically makes her life hell.

Rose has a (highly symbolic) closet full of really expensive shoes which she never uses, and Rose helps her self to them all. She also helps herself to Rose’s douche of a love interest and winds up sleeping with him. Rose throws Maggie out, Maggie goes to live with their estranged grandmother, and everybody has a real existential awakening in the end.

I love a good cathartic moment like the rest of you, but Maggie’s character is pretty terrible. As the Rose of my own sisterly dynamic, I have a hard time rooting for her. I understand her terribleness is just a vehicle for everybody to get their own minds right, but Rose lets her off too easy. It’s a fun watch if you can resist projecting your own dysfunction onto it.