Rachel Getting Married

photo source: http://www.impawards.com/2008/rachel_getting_married.html 

I watched Rachel Getting Married while I took a break from an actual wedding celebration. The real-life wedding I attended was such a happy one, but I needed a break from taking so much photos and a lot of running around and standing too. While I recharged my internal batteries, I sat in bed and watched this intense film.

Here’s the trailer (actual movie trailer is only upto 2:39, the rest is a review of the trailer):


Anne Hathaway plays Kym. A young woman who has been in and out of rehab. She is out for the weekend to attend her sister Rachel’s wedding. The wedding takes place in the family home and oh what a fine wedding it is. All I can say to describe it, is that it’s so artsy. So creative. It is Indian-inspired and the wedding entourage, including the bride, are wearing Saris. Beautiful.

Everything really seems perfect about the wedding, and the union. Rachel is getting her PhD on Psychology. Sydney, her soon-to-be-husband, is a musician. Or at least that was my understanding (I was close, he’s a music producer). They had friends and family from all over come for the weekend, and oh what a party it was. They had lots of music, and all music from this film was recorded real-time. The music that the audience hears is what the actors were playing/hearing too.

The movie had this overall indie vibe. Everything just seemed genuine and non-commercial. Seriously. There were many scenes where they could have inserted sponsors or advertising but they didn’t.

So back to Kym. She has a very troubled past but it looks like she is on her way to finally healing. Not sure if it’s perfect timing, or the worst, that it happens on her sister’s wedding. On one hand I can see why Rachel feels like Kym is being selfish to draw attention to herself so much. After all, she’s the one getting married. This was her weekend. On the other hand, I felt like I wanted to scream at Kym and tell her to just lay low at the wedding if that would make the bride happy. Or to not attend at all. In the long run, it would be Rachel who would regret not having her sister there.

I also empathized with Kym, they were threshing out their issues and then Rachel goes out to announce another life-changing news to the family. And yes, that was unfair. She totally squirmed her way out of confronting her own issues that time.

But the real kicker? Kym’s confrontation scene with her mom. Her mom who left her in charge to babysit her baby brother when she was 16, and already doing drugs. Since the accident that killed her baby brother, Kym has had a tumultuous life. She hasn’t been able to forgive herself, when all the while, there was no accountability on her mother’s part. Why did she leave her in charge? There was no resolution here. Mom ends up slapping Kym, who also fights back. She leaves her house very agitated and emotional and runs her dad’s car onto a sign and then a big rock (or was it a tree?).

She is driven back to the house the next day with a big black eye. Rachel takes her in no questions asked and instead of focusing on getting herself ready for her big day, takes the time to give her sister a bath. They make peace, and the wedding goes on. Very happily in fact.

At the reception Mom is noticeably trying to avoid Kym. I wondered the whole time whether Dad or Rachel knew exactly what happened the night before.
The next day, Kym is picked up by her counselor from rehab. She doesn’t say goodbye to anyone, but Rachel sees her off and gives her a tight hug.
And life goes on.