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Rachel Getting Married

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Rachel Getting Married
Theatrical release poster
Directed byJonathan Demme
Written byJenny Lumet
Produced byJonathan Demme
Neda Armian
Marc E. Platt
Starring
CinematographyDeclan Quinn
Edited byTim Squyres
Music byDonald Harrison Jr.
Zafer Tawil
Distributed bySony Pictures Classics
Release dates
  • September 3, 2008 (2008-09-03) (Venice)
  • October 3, 2008 (2008-10-03) (United States)
Running time
114 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Budget$12 million[1]
Box office$17.5 million[1]

Rachel Getting Married is a 2008 American drama film directed by Jonathan Demme, and starring Anne Hathaway, Rosemarie DeWitt, Bill Irwin, and Debra Winger. The film was released in the U.S. to select theaters on October 3, 2008. The film premiered at the 65th Venice International Film Festival on September 3, 2008.[2] The film also opened in Canada's Toronto International Film Festival on September 6, 2008. Hathaway received an Oscar nomination for Best Actress for her performance in the film.

Plot

Kym Buchman is temporarily discharged from drug rehab for a few days so that she can attend her older sister Rachel's wedding to Sidney Williams. Kym's history of drug abuse and alcohol-infused antics have more or less rendered her the black sheep of the family, and caused rifts between herself and others. Upon arriving to her paternal home, full of several close friends and family members bustling about and planning activities for the momentous occasion, Kym experiences several challenges reintegrating into the household. For instance, Kym's father, Paul, shows intense concern for her well-being, which Kym interprets as mistrust. Kym also resents Rachel's choice in designating her best friend as maid of honor, relegating her sister to possible bridesmaid due to doubt over whether Kym would have the faculty to make an appearance at all. Rachel, in turn, resents the attention her sister's drug addiction is drawing away from her wedding, which is exacerbated by Kym's behavior at the rehearsal dinner, when she, amid toasts from friends and family, forces an opportunity to offer a strangely blanket apology for her past actions, as part of her twelve-step program.

Underlying the family's broader dynamic is a tragedy that occurred several years earlier, which Kym retells at a Narcotics Anonymous meeting. As a teenager, Kym was responsible for the death of her younger brother, Ethan, who was left under her supervision one day; driving home from a nearby park, an intoxicated Kym had lost control of the car, careening off a bridge and into a lake, where her brother drowned. The memory of his death is ensconced in several activities and conversations, throughout the days immediately preceding the wedding.

The day before the wedding, as Rachel, Kym, and the other bridesmaids are preparing their hair at a salon, Kym is approached by a man whom she met at rehab years ago. He proclaims himself several months sober, and adamantly thanks her for instilling courage within him, through her story of strength - a story which he's unaware is fully fabricated, to evade accepting responsibility for her own addiction. His genuine graciousness is superseded when Rachel overhears this exchange, and storms out of the hair salon, angered that Kym would lie about having been molested by an uncle or tending to an anorexic sister.

The tension between the sisters flares later that night at Paul's house, as Rachel suggests that Kym's rehab has been a complete hoax, revealing to the rest of the family that Kym falsified her story to medical professionals and other addicts in ways that implicated them as well. Rachel also claims that she has never forgiven Kym for their brother's death, to which Kym acknowledges that any amount of progress she makes may never make her worthy of forgiveness. In desperation, she leaves in her father's car and drives to their mother's (Abby's) home, hoping to find solace. This backfires, with empathetic understanding being replaced by a prevailing tone of mutual accusation over responsibility for Ethan's death, culminating in a physical altercation between the two. Heavily distraught over Abby's denial over her own role in Ethan's death, Kym leaves and drives the car off the road in an attempted suicide, crashing into a boulder. She survives and spends the night sleeping in the crashed car, while the rest of the family grow more concerned over her whereabouts. The next morning (the day of the wedding), the police wake up Kym and conduct a field sobriety test on her, which she passes. She gets a ride home with the tow truck driver, and makes her way to Rachel's room as Rachel prepares for the wedding.

Seeing Kym's bruised face prompts Rachel's previous anger to vanish. Rachel tenderly bathes and dresses her sister, in the process unveiling a tattoo on Kym's shoulder with Ethan's name permanently imprinted onto her skin, as an eternal reminder of his life and death, and a marker of guilt.

Amid a festive Indian theme, Rachel and her fiancé, Sidney, are wed. Kym is the maid of honor, and is overcome with emotion as the couple exchange their vows. She tries to enjoy herself throughout the wedding reception, but continues to feel alienated, and plagued by her dispute with Abby, who's also present. Ultimately, Abby leaves the reception early, despite Rachel's effort to bring the two together, and the discord between Kym and Abby is left unresolved. The next morning, Kym returns to rehab. As she's leaving, Rachel runs out of the house to hug her.

Cast

Production

The screenplay was written by Jenny Lumet, the daughter of director Sidney Lumet and granddaughter of Lena Horne. Lumet, a junior high school drama teacher, has written four earlier screenplays, but this was the first to be produced.[citation needed] The film was directed by Jonathan Demme, and was shot in Stamford, Connecticut in a naturalistic style. The working title for the film was originally Dancing with Shiva.[citation needed]

Sidney Lumet himself approached Demme about his daughter Jenny's script. Demme has commented that he loved Jenny's flagrant disregard for the rules of formula, her lack of concern for making her characters likable in the conventional sense, and for what he considered to be her bold approach to truth, pain, and humor.[3]

Filming took 33 days and occurred in late 2007.[4]

Casting

Demme had wanted to work with Anne Hathaway ever since he spotted her in a crowd at a screening five years earlier. He immediately took her in consideration for the lead role.[3] Hathaway later said of her first reading Lumet's script: "I was in my old apartment in the West Village Manhattan, just pacing back and forth between the kitchen table and the couch. I somehow wound up on the floor sobbing by the last page."[4]

Rosemarie DeWitt was considered by the film's casting directors. Demme and the rest of the crew were impressed and immediately wanted her to play Rachel. Bill Irwin is a personal friend of Demme's.

Tunde Adebimpe's role, Sidney, was originally offered to American film director Paul Thomas Anderson while he was working on the post-production of the movie There Will Be Blood.[5]

Demme was concerned about Debra Winger's interest in doing the film, but he pumped up his courage to ask her because they had met several times before at the Jacob Burns Center, a film center close to their homes. Winger later accepted the role of Abby.[3]

Music

The music-loving director Demme invited musicians to compose the score live on set, to support the film's storyline.[6]

"For the longest time," Demme has said, "I've had this desire to provide the musical dimension of a movie without traditionally scored music. I thought: wait a minute; in the script, Paul [father of the bride] is a music-industry bigwig, Sidney's a record producer, many of his friends will be gifted musicians, so of course there would be non-stop music at this gathering. We have music playing live throughout the weekend, but always in the next room, out on the porch or in the garden."[6]

Throughout the unconventional filming and loosely staged scenes, a New York–based Middle Eastern ensemble, including Palestinian musician Zafer Tawil, and Iraqi Amir ElSaffar, who played the score of Demme's documentary Man from Plains, compose the score on set. Always present at the filming, the musicians had the freedom – and were encouraged – to play whenever they were inspired to, and to ignore the camera.

According to Demme on the DVD, during filming of a dramatic scene, Hathaway complained about the music interfering with the mood, to which Demme responded "Tell her to do something about it!" Hathaway, in that scene, responded by improvising the line, "Can you tell them to knock it off?!" to which another actor not heavily involved in the scene went off-screen and told the band to stop.[7]

Well-known acting faces mingle anonymously on-screen with musicians, artists, and dancers. Among them are the New Orleanian saxophonist Donald Harrison Jr., and the Brooklyn-based TV on the Radio's lead singer Tunde Adebimpe.

Singer-songwriter Robyn Hitchcock plays a wedding guest. At the ceremony Hitchcock, at the request of his old friend Demme, performs the song "America" from his 1982 album Groovy Decay. He also plays "Up To Our Nex", written for the movie. "It's my micro-encapsulation of the movie. The song is trying to be a voice in Kym's head."[6] Filmed in one take at the wedding party, he is spontaneously joined by the hip-hop star Fab 5 Freddy, and the dancehall singers Sister Carol, ElSaffar and Tawil.

Hitchcock recalled,

My memory of the whole thing is of being at a real wedding, although without the alcohol. A lot was shot in real time and the end result was the whole thing seemed as if it really had happened. It's as real as it gets. By the time I did 'Up To Our Nex' in the tent I had 15 people. Amir did a horn arrangement and Demme's son Brooklyn Demme was on electric guitar. We hadn't all played together before. The line between reality and fiction – it was a door you could walk in and out of as much as you liked. The idea that they are just playing live, that's the beauty of it. The thing I really liked about the music in the movie is that it all happens in real time. The moments of real tension in the film are not signposted by the score. It's not telling you how you're going to react when the music comes. The music is very organic, not manipulative.[6]

For Demme, it was about creating evocative music in the moment.[6]

Reception

Critical response

The film received critical acclaim and appeared on many "Best Film of 2008" lists. On Rotten Tomatoes, it currently garners an 84% approval rating based on 201 reviews, with an average rating of 7.46/10. The website's critical consensus reads, "Rachel Getting Married is an engrossing tale of family angst, highlighted by Anne Hathaway's powerful performance and director Jonathan Demme's return to form."[8] On Metacritic, the film has a score of 82 out of 100, indicating "universal acclaim."[9].

Michael Phillips of the Chicago Tribune called the film "a triumph of ambience," and applauded the acting, declaring that "Hathaway, DeWitt, Irwin and especially Winger are working at a very high level" in the film.[10] Roger Ebert's four-star rating added, "apart from the story, which is interesting enough, 'Rachel Getting Married' is like the theme music for an evolving new age."[11] Other critics praised Jonathan Demme. Andrew Sarris noted in the New York Observer "his career of cinematic good works"[12] and Owen Gleiberman of Entertainment Weekly observed "a fight scene that's as raw as Ingmar Bergman and as operatic as Mildred Pierce"... and "Demme's finest work since The Silence of the Lambs.[13]

Peter Travers of Rolling Stone noted that Rachel Getting Married is "a home run ... [it goes] deep into the joy and pain of being human."[14] A.O. Scott of The New York Times said that the film "has an undeniable and authentic vitality, an exuberance of spirit, that feels welcome and rare".[15]

Many reviewers praised the film for its organic feel; Salon reviewer Stephanie Zacharek noted that "with 'Rachel Getting Married,' Demme has once again scaled back, making a picture that has some of the ease and warmth of his earlier movies, although it also feels stripped down and direct in a way that's new for Demme."[16] USA Today proclaimed: "After a foray in documentary films, director Jonathan Demme has returned to narrative storytelling, assuming a decidedly cinéma vérité style that has echoes of Robert Altman. The film's greatest asset is the sense of cringing realism in portraying dinner parties and interpersonal encounters that can throw family members off-kilter."[17] The Los Angeles Times noted:

Helping give this story its essential air of reality is the decision Demme and cinematographer Quinn made to shoot it as what they call "the most beautiful home movie ever made." The director chose not to plan shots in advance, instead giving Quinn (whose credits include Mira Nair's "Monsoon Wedding") the ability to respond in the moment to what was going on with the actors, and it's a tribute to his ability (and that of editor Tim Squyres) that his camera always seems to be in the right place at the right time.[18]

Anne Hathaway won raves for her work as Kym. USA Today found her wonderful in the role and wrote "Her nervous laughter, edginess and quick temper blend convincingly with her need for attention and vulnerability."[17] Newsweek commented: "Kym is a major pain in the ass, and Hathaway's raw, spiky performance makes no attempt to ingratiate. Yet she makes Kym's inner torment so palpable you can't help but feel for her, however insufferable she may be. It's a terrific performance ...".[19] Empire felt that "Kym is a peach of a role—she sleeps with the best man, fights with the maid of honor, quips, 'You're so thin, it's like you're Asian'—and Hathaway squeezes it for all the juice it's worth, making this raw-nerved, narcissistic Tasmanian Devil not just believable, but somehow likable."[20]

Beyond critiquing the direction, cinematography, and acting, or analyzing its general themes, film scholars have also approached the film as a critical commentary on East Coast liberalism in Cinema and Neoliberal Ideology.[21]

Top ten lists

The film appeared on many critics' top ten lists of the best films of 2008.[22]

Awards and nominations

Year Ceremony Category Recipients Result
2008 13th Satellite Awards Best Actress - Drama Anne Hathaway Nominated
Best Supporting Actress Rosemarie DeWitt Won
14th Critics' Choice Awards Best Actress Anne Hathaway Won
Best Cast Acting Ensemble Nominated
15th Screen Actors Guild Awards Best Female Actor in a Leading Role Anne Hathaway Nominated
24th Independent Spirit Awards Best Film Rachel Getting Married Nominated
Best Director Jonathan Demme Nominated
Best Female Lead Anne Hathaway Nominated
Best First Screenplay Jenny Lumet Nominated
Best Supporting Female Rosemarie DeWitt Nominated
Best Supporting Female Debra Winger Nominated
66th Golden Globe Awards Best Actress - Drama Anne Hathaway Nominated
81st Academy Awards Best Actress Anne Hathaway Nominated
2008 New York Film Critics Circle Awards Best Film Rachel Getting Married Nominated
Best Actress Anne Hathaway Nominated
Best Supporting Actress Rosemarie DeWitt Nominated
Best Supporting Actress Debra Winger Nominated
Best Screenplay Jenny Lumet Won
Austin Film Critics Association Awards 2008 Best Actress Anne Hathaway Won
Central Ohio Film Critics Association Best Actress Anne Hathaway Nominated
Chicago Film Critics Association Awards 2008 Best Actress Anne Hathaway Won
Best Supporting Actor Bill Irwin Nominated
Best Supporting Actress Rosemarie DeWitt Nominated
Best Original Screenplay Jenny Lumet Nominated
Dallas–Fort Worth Film Critics Association Awards 2008 Best Actress Anne Hathaway Won
Best Supporting Actress Rosemarie DeWitt Nominated
Detroit Film Critics Society Best Actress Anne Hathaway Nominated
Best Supporting Actress Rosemarie DeWitt Nominated
Best Newcomer Rosemarie DeWitt Nominated
Best Ensemble Acting Ensemble Nominated
Gotham Independent Film Awards 2008 Breakthrough Performer Rosemarie DeWitt Nominated
Best Ensemble Cast Acting Ensemble Nominated
Houston Film Critics Society Awards 2008 Best Actress in a Leading Role Anne Hathaway Won
Best Cast Acting Ensemble Nominated
International Cinephile Society Awards 2009 Best Picture Rachel Getting Married Nominated
Best Actress Anne Hathaway Nominated
Best Supporting Actress Rosemarie DeWitt Nominated
Best Ensemble Acting Ensemble Nominated
London Film Critics' Circle Actress of the Year Anne Hathaway Nominated
National Board of Review Awards 2008 Best Actress Anne Hathaway Won
Online Film Critics Society Awards 2008 Best Actress Anne Hathaway Nominated
Palm Springs International Film Festival Best Actress Anne Hathaway Won
Santa Barbara International Film Festival Virtuoso Award Rosemarie DeWitt Won
Southeastern Film Critics Association Awards 2008 Best Actress Anne Hathaway Won
St. Louis Gateway Film Critics Association Awards 2008 Best Actress Anne Hathaway Nominated
Toronto Film Critics Association Awards 2008 Best Film Rachel Getting Married Nominated
Best Director Jonathan Demme Won
Best Actress Anne Hathaway Nominated
Best Supporting Actress Rosemarie DeWitt Won
Best Screenplay Jenny Lumet Won
Utah Film Critics Association Awards 2008 Best Picture Rachel Getting Married Nominated
Best Actress Anne Hathaway Nominated
Best Supporting Actress Rosemarie DeWitt Won
Best Screenplay Jenny Lumet Won
Vancouver Film Critics Circle Awards 2008 Best Supporting Actress Rosemarie DeWitt Won
Venice Film Festival Golden Lion Rachel Getting Married Nominated
Washington D.C. Area Film Critics Association Awards 2008 Best Supporting Actress Rosemarie DeWitt Won
Best Screenplay - Original Jenny Lumet Won

References

  1. ^ a b "Rachel Getting Married (2008) - Financial Information". The Numbers.
  2. ^ Scheib, Ronnie (September 3, 2008). "Rachel Getting Married". Variety. Retrieved November 14, 2019.
  3. ^ a b c "Rachel Getting Married". Sonyclassics.com. Retrieved 2011-02-13.
  4. ^ a b West, Naomi (2009-01-09). "Anne Hathaway: Oscar contender who is the real deal". The Telegraph. London. Retrieved 2009-01-11.
  5. ^ Kelly, Kevin. "Jonathan Demme Interview, Rachel Getting Married, Toronto 2008". SpoutBlog. Archived from the original on 2008-09-20. Retrieved 2011-02-13.
  6. ^ a b c d e Bray, Elisa (January 16, 2009). "Rachel Getting Married - Lights, camera, music ..." The Independent. Retrieved March 2, 2015.
  7. ^ Jonathan Demme commentary, Rachel Getting Married DVD
  8. ^ "Rachel Getting Married". Rotten Tomatoes. Fandango. Retrieved November 14, 2019.
  9. ^ "Rachel Getting Married reviews". Metacritic. Retrieved November 14, 2019.
  10. ^ Phillips, Michael (2008-10-09). "Movie review: 'Rachel Getting Married'". Metromix Chicago. Archived from the original on 2011-02-11. Retrieved 2011-02-13.
  11. ^ Ebert, Roger (October 8, 2008). "Rachel Getting Married". Chicago Sun-Times. Retrieved 2011-02-13. And so on. Apart from the story, which is interesting enough, 'Rachel Getting Married' is like the theme music for an evolving new age.
  12. ^ Sarris, Andrew (2008-10-07). "Wonderful Winger". The New York Observer. Retrieved 2011-02-13. I hope nonetheless that Rachel Getting Married is enough of a hit to sustain his career of cinematic good works.
  13. ^ Gleiberman, Owen (October 3, 2008). "Rachel Getting Married". Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved 2011-02-13. After a while, Debra Winger shows up as the sisters' quasi-estranged mother, and she and Hathaway have a fight scene that's as raw as Ingmar Bergman and as operatic as Mildred Pierce.
    This melting-pot wedding creates a frisson of its own; it's a vision of a new world. I do wish that Demme hadn't let the wedding music, by Robyn Hitchcock, Sister Carol East, and a few others, take over the last act. This much healing-by-'80s-hipster-taste is too much. But Rachel Getting Married is still a triumph—Demme's finest work since The Silence of the Lambs, and a movie that tingles with life.
  14. ^ Travers, Peter (October 2, 2008). "Rachel Getting Married". Rolling Stone. Retrieved March 10, 2011.
  15. ^ Scott, A.O. (October 2, 2008). "Out of Rehab, Wreaking Havoc". The New York Times. Retrieved 2011-02-13. It's a small movie, and in some ways a very sad one, but it has an undeniable and authentic vitality, an exuberance of spirit, that feels welcome and rare.
  16. ^ Zacharek, Stephanie (October 3, 2008). "Rachel Getting Married". Salon. Retrieved February 13, 2011.
  17. ^ a b Puig, Claudia (2008-10-03). "It's Rachel's wedding, but it's Hathaway's show". USA Today. Retrieved 2010-05-22. After a foray in documentary films, director Jonathan Demme has returned to narrative storytelling, assuming a decidedly cinéma vérité style that has echoes of Robert Altman.
    The film's greatest asset is the sense of cringing realism in portraying dinner parties and interpersonal encounters that can throw family members off-kilter.
  18. ^ Turan, Kenneth (2008-10-03). "Review: 'Rachel Getting Married'". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 2010-05-22. Helping give this story its essential air of reality is the decision Demme and cinematographer Quinn made to shoot it as what they call "the most beautiful home movie ever made." The director chose not to plan shots in advance, instead giving Quinn (whose credits include Mira Nair's "Monsoon Wedding") the ability to respond in the moment to what was going on with the actors, and it's a tribute to his ability (and that of editor Tim Squyres) that his camera always seems to be in the right place at the right time.
  19. ^ "The Wedding Guest From Hell". Newsweek. 2008-10-01. Retrieved 2011-02-13.
  20. ^ Nick de Semlyen. "Rachel Getting Married". Empire. Retrieved 2011-02-13.
  21. ^ Parvulescu, Constantin. "Hedges of Manhattan: The Disquieting Charm of the Haute Bourgeoisie in Jonathan Demme's Rachel Getting Married". Contemporary Cinema and Neoliberal Ideology, edited by Ewa Mazierska, Lars Kristensen.
  22. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w "2008 Critics' Picks". Metacritic. Archived from the original on August 2, 2011. Retrieved January 11, 2009.
  23. ^ Adams, Ryan (2008-12-08). "David Edelstein's Top 10". Awards Daily. Retrieved 2011-02-13.
  24. ^ Denby, David (December 5, 2008). "David Denby: The Ten Best Films of 2008". The New Yorker. Retrieved 2011-02-13.
  25. ^ Turan, Kenneth (2008-12-21). "Top 'Dog,' and the best of shows". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 2011-02-13.
  26. ^ "Kyle Smith: Top Movies". New York Post. 2008-12-07. Retrieved 2011-02-13.
  27. ^ Susan Thea Posnock (December 10, 2008). "Pete Travers Top Ten". Awards Daily. Retrieved 2011-02-13.
  28. ^ Ebert, Roger (December 5, 2008). "The best films of 2008... and there were a lot of them". Chicago Sun-Times. Retrieved 2011-02-13.
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