Review: Rachel Getting Married

The second half of my Valentine’s double bill was Rachel Getting Married, which I found more affecting and less acidic than I’d imagined. To date most discussion of this movie has focused on the performance of Anne Hathaway – and understandably so, but that does diminish some excellent work from the other key players.

Hathaway is great as Kym Buckman, all nerves and bile, the recovering junkie, fresh out of rehab returning to the family home in time for her titular sister’s wedding. Weddings are emotionally-charged affairs at the best of times, but especially this one as it takes place at the parental home. Throw in Hathaway’s dynamite Kym, and opening of wounds and heated debate of the family’s dysfunction – and the shocking cause of Kym’s need for rehab – surely follows.

Of course she particularly puts her sister Rachel (played understatedly by Rosemarie DeWitt) and her well-meaning but long-suffering father Paul (Bill Irwin) through the mill. The biggest shock of all is the confrontation between Kym and her mother, (Debra Winger, characteristically assured as the distant and estranged Abby).

Kym is by far the most fleshed out character, our understanding and sympathy towards her helped by seeing her at AA meetings.

While this is dark cinema (shot handheld from an improvised script, quite Dogme-style), the characters do wear all their emotions (good and bad) on their sleeves, making the movie something of an emotional rollercoaster. Nevertheless, the final scene is not as downbeat as might have been expected.

If it turns out that this is director Jonathan Demme’s final fictional movie, it will serve as a fine testimony to his eclectic, indie tastes.
Score: 8/10