Review of Rachel Getting Married (2008) by Bec E — 28 Apr 2014

Directed by Jonathan Demme (Melvin and Howard (1980), The Silence of the Lambs (1991) and Philadelphia (1993)), after doing a few music documentaries, Demme was looking for his next film, and wanted to do something more intimate and smaller compared to what he'd done before, and he found it in this drama written by Jenny Lumet.

It's a moving and powerful drama with a brilliant female lead. Kym (Anne Hathaway) has been in drug rehabilitation for a few years, but she's being allowed to go home so she can attend the wedding of her sister Rachel (Rosemarie DeWitt).

As soon as Kym gets home, the atmosphere around the house is tense, Kym's father Paul (Bill Irwin) notices this, and worries for Kym's well-being. Rachel finds out that Kym has told lies in rehab to try and shift responsibility away from her, and it all explodes into a full blown argument which Kym walks out of.

She goes to the house of her mother Abby (Debra Winger), but Kym finds no solace or forgiveness there, and it just goes from bad to worse, and all this is the day before the wedding too. Filmed in 33 days in late 2007, this drama could have been a moody and gloomy film, but for some reason it's not, it's interesting and compelling and Hathaway gives a powerful and engrossing performance as the troubled daughter/sister of the family, it's Dogme 95 style does feel queasy, but it's something quite different.