Rachel Getting Married

So we're only a couple of weeks after the Oscars. Does anyone remember that Anne Hathaway was nominated for Rachel Getting Married? Thought not. Yet, when I was in London last weekend and I looked for this film t the cinema, it has only one late night screening at an indie cinema in central london (well, the far east of 'central') and 2 screenings in greater london - we're talking around an hour's journey to get there. Frankly, I think that's quite poor. But, Rachel Getting Married probably isn't a film to appeal to everyone.

Actually, I would have loved to see the women's magazines embrace this as a 'chick flick', rather than the carbon-cutout drivel they usually say is a must-see. Because each of us has a varying degree of Anne Hathaway's unlikeable character Kim within us. At least I hope I'm not only speaking for myself...

In short, Kim has just returned from rehab for treatment for addictions to alcohol and drugs. Unfortunately, this return coincides with her sister, Rachel's, wedding. There is a sense of nervousness at her return, a worry that her unpredictability and attitude might spoil things. Because frankly, Kim is self-obsessed, replete with self-pity and can be very spiteful. One of the very first manifestations of this when we see her is greeting her sister as she has her wedding dress fitted. Kim, in front of others, says she looks so thin that anyone would think she was puking again. And so the awkwardness begins. There is a constant tension throughout the film between the fact that Rachel should be allowed to be the centre of attention during the build up to this special day, and during the day itself - and the fact that people need to tiptoe around Kim, who is also fighting for her share of attention because of her dramatic return. Writer Jenny Lumet presents a host of fantastic scenes which represent this, from Kim's 'toast' as the rehearsal dinner which narrates awkwardly and at length her experiences in rehab and her remit to apologise to everyone for everything, through to the scene where Kim picks a fight (literally - they wallop each other) with her mum on the night before the wedding, then leaves and deliberately drives her (Dad's) car at speed into a tree (we're remembering how her Dad said he'd prefer to drive her around as his insurance premiums are so high). On the whole, Rachel is more likable and seemingly more rational, but there is one scene where she really pulls a fast one on Kim and it's great - lambasting her for the dinner speech, Rachel and Kim have a row at home, among the guests. Right in the middle, Rachel changes tone and announces that she's pregnant. Suddenly all attention is lavished on her, everyone (bar Kim) is ecstatic and apparently the row must be over. But Kim is left in the corner complaining to Rachel that she cannot just do that in the middle of a row. It was an illegal move, but you can see Rachel's frustration and why she did it. Worryingly, I felt that I could empathise with many of the motivations behind Kim's bizarre actions - I wonder whether that's just a girl's thing, stems from having a sister, or whether I am more of a bitch than I always thought.

Much has been made of Anne Hathaway's performance, either for its quality in its own right, or the fact that she is playing against type ('Bride Wars' has not long been out - I haven't even been able to bear the trailer). Either way, she is excellent. To me she was always a bit of a square - I'd only seen her playing cardboard in The Devil Wears Prada, read interviews where she portrays herself as a square, and then learned about her ex-boyfriend emerging as a fraudster. But this film suddenly gave her an edge in my eyes that I hadn't seen before. Rosemarie DeWitt's performance is also to be applauded.

Personally, I like Jonathan Demme's directing style. It feels raw, natural - like you're seeing something real rather than contrived. However, if you're not into the handheld thing then I imagine you might find it irritating. There are also parts of the film which are overlong - the dancing scenes at the wedding for example, seem to go on endlessly, without contributing anything to the narrative. This could have been a 90-minute film instead of 2 hours. But on the whole I found this thoroughly enjoyable. When Kim leaves at the end, she's not been converted or redeemed - she does just about patch everything up with her sister although her relationship with her Mum remains fractured - and that's what so great. Nothing's changed, but that's real life.