Review of Rachel Getting Married (2008) by Donna L — 31 Oct 2009

My favourite movie in 2008 was Rachel Getting Married, a film that deals with love's ability to subside anger, with characters that straddle the line between resiliency and despondency as they move forward in the wake of tragedy. By staging the story on Rachel's wedding weekend, director Jonathan Demme uses a joyous occasion to examine a family moving past grief. Rachel's brother has died in a car accident, her drug addicted sister, Kym, caused the boy's death, and their grieving parents are trying to forgive her. In marrying, Rachel is bringing new life into a family feeling drained of happiness. Her finance, his friends and his family are a very musical group, incessantly performing and using their enthusiasm to spread optimism but occasionally intruding on a family's cherished grief, which is all that is left of a son and brother.

Demme, who also directed The Silence of the Lambs, a film that reveals man's animalism as well as any other work of art, here gives us a very different type of movie, one with characters hurting from but surviving on their humanity. In the film's lonely centre is Kym, played heartbreakingly by Anne Hathaway, as both victim and perpetrator of a horrendous crime. She has been living in an institution since accidentally killing her brother and has returned home to see her sister get married. In scenes where characters fondly reflect the past, Kym's act is omnipresent, reminding everyone that the past has also been painful, but the film's remarkable achievement is revealing the moments where the family is beginning to overcome this pain. Kym and Rachel's father, an emotional man deeply in love with each of his children, uses his optimism to ensure that the weekend focuses on the celebration, but even he reaches a moment where his grief rushes back in, and so the bride's family depends on the groom's to carry them through the tough moments, and they do. Their music, their culture, their love, make the weekend, and the movie, a celebration of human togetherness.

When I left this movie, I kept thinking about the groom, and his obvious love and respect for music. I soon found out that he is played by Tunde Adebimpe of TV on the Radio. His performance forced me to listen to their latest album, Dear Science, and it is brilliant. The files are wearing out my iPod. That is the first item I for which I thank Jonathan Demme and his casting directors. The second is for providing Anne Hathaway with a chance to play this role. She has one of the most expressive faces in Hollywood. I think if Ingmar Bergman had have seen her, he would have continually cast her in his movies. She was born to portray happiness and grief, therefore to reflect the most emotional elements of life, and this remarkable performance will likely be the first of many during her career.