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Frequently asked about The Proposal

Common questions people search for, with answers written by us at MoviesPack.

• Why does Margaret agree to marry Andrew instead of just returning to Canada?▾

  Margaret had been denied a visa renewal due to failing to appear for a required immigration appointment — a bureaucratic oversight caused by her demanding workload. Facing immediate deportation and the likely end of her career in New York, she impulsively claims she and Andrew are engaged when the immigration officer questions her status. Andrew goes along with it only after she threatens to fire him and then promises to promote him to editor if he cooperates.

• What is the significance of the trip to Sitka, Alaska?▾

  The immigration officer, Gilberto, is suspicious of the sudden engagement and requires both Margaret and Andrew to prove they know each other well enough for the marriage to be credible. He schedules an interview for the following Monday, giving them a tight deadline. The trip to Sitka coincides with Andrew's grandmother Annie's 90th birthday, which means Margaret must meet his entire family under the pretense of being his fiancée — an environment where any inconsistency in their story would be immediately exposed.

• Why does Andrew's father Bob have such a strained relationship with him?▾

  Bob wanted Andrew to stay in Sitka and take over the family's considerable local business interests, viewing New York as Andrew abandoning his roots and heritage. Andrew left for New York to pursue his own ambitions in publishing, a choice his father saw as a rejection of the family legacy. Their tension throughout the film stems from this unresolved conflict between Bob's expectation that Andrew would follow in his footsteps and Andrew's need to build an identity independent of his family's wealth and influence.

• Why does Margaret confess the truth at the wedding ceremony instead of going through with the marriage?▾

  During her time in Sitka, Margaret genuinely falls in love with Andrew and with his warm, close-knit family — something her isolated, workaholic life in New York had never given her. Going through with a fraudulent marriage while actually having real feelings felt dishonest to her, and she could not bring herself to trap Andrew in a fake arrangement he had only agreed to out of professional obligation. She confesses publicly to protect him from legal consequences and to give him the freedom to choose her honestly rather than out of coercion.

• What happened to Margaret's parents and how does it shape her character?▾

  Margaret's parents died when she was young, leaving her without close family. This backstory is revealed during her time in Sitka and explains why she is so emotionally guarded, throws herself entirely into her work, and initially struggles to connect authentically with Andrew's family. Her reaction to Grandma Annie's warmth and the close family dynamic she witnesses in Alaska is essentially the first genuine sense of belonging she has experienced as an adult, which accelerates her real emotional attachment to Andrew.