Rachel Getting Married: A Blessed and Charged Event

By Breanne Boland October 30, 2008 Issue

In many ways, Rachel Getting Married is nothing new. It’s a story so common it’s almost a genre unto itself—a dysfunctional family must reunite for an event, which will surely bring up their many buried problems. Exacerbating things is the return of a prodigal son or daughter, a loose cannon who causes arguments and reveals the problems that have been swept under the rug.

It’s well-trod because it’s a great way for actors to flex their muscles. Fall is when the Oscar contenders come out, so it’s typical for multiplexes to fill with dark family dramas, films staffed with serious actors seeking serious accolades. And in that way, Rachel Getting Married is pretty typical too.

Two things separate it from other ponderous, serious, actorly films—its performances and its director. Jonathan Demme directed the 2004 remake of The Manchurian Candidate, but he spends much of his time on concert films and documentaries about musicians. Here, he melds both—the family at the center of the film is stocked with musicians, and long, loving sequences showcase them joyously stretching across genres. Other scenes are shot with handheld cameras, giving raw, emotional exchanges even more immediacy.

Oscar talk is already being bandied about for Anne Hathaway’s role here as the prodigal daughter, a longtime drug addict returning from rehab for her older sister’s wedding. While it could easily have been yet another tale of the beautiful and tragically flawed, Hathaway takes it further. Her large, expressive features make both victimhood and selfishness equally plausible as her tumultuous background unfurls before us. It would’ve been understandable, even expected, for Hathaway to ham it up as the volatile Kym. Instead, she approaches it more delicately, and the entire movie is improved because of it.

Equally skilled is Rosemarie DeWitt as Rachel, the bride-to-be who should be the center of attention on this of all weekends. Best known for her work on TV’s Mad Men, DeWitt is just as adept on a larger screen. Her performance is necessarily quieter than Hathaway’s, but she holds her own in a large ensemble and in intense, two-person scenes. Her chemistry with Hathaway is what the entire film hinges on; the way they balance simultaneous love and hate is remarkable to watch. That and Demme’s direction are what make the film transcend its somewhat clichÈ story.

It’s easy for a film this intense, about such large issues, to be an actor’s dream and a casual filmgoer’s nightmare. Rachel Getting Married has its share of uncomfortable confrontations and difficult revelations, but its honesty, its actors, and its unconventional direction rescue cast and audience alike. It doesn’t reach a tidy conclusion—to do so would have been dishonest and laughable—but Demme, Hathaway, DeWitt and company make Rachel Getting Married a satisfying and worthwhile event.

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