CHEERFUL WEATHER FOR THE WEDDING
UK, 2012, 92 minutes, Colour.
Felicity Jones, Luke Treadaway, Elizabeth McGovern?, Mackenzie Crook, Fenella Woolgar.
Directed by Donald Rice.
The title sounded like that of the comedy, I Give it a Year. But, then the credits sequence, which shows the detail of the printing press and the wedding invitation, indicate that it is 1932. And, back we go, something like entering a time capsule of the period and being trapped there, an alien world of British upper class, some upstairs and downstairs, some clipped and arch dialogue – ‘I’ve missed your custard’, ‘I must go and tend to the partridges’, ‘why did you come…?’. There are some idle rich, cricket games, a benign canon who says grace before meals in Latin, a key focus which is a tortoise, and a preoccupation with the niceties of the wedding. And, you realise almost instantly that you would say of this marriage, ‘I wouldn’t give it a year, let alone a day’.
Enjoyment will depend on frustration tolerance of most of the characters and their hyper-worried concerns.
Felicity Jones is Dolly. The action of the film takes place on her wedding day with flashbacks in brighter hues to her romance of the previous summer. Felicity Jones can be a very good actress (from Page Eight to Hysteria to Chalet Girl), but she spends most of the film pouting, a petulant-bride-to-be. She is cheerful, however, in the flashbacks. Luke Treadaway seems a nice enough chap, an anthropologist who has been invited to the wedding – and we soon realise (before the flashbacks) why he came. He does deserve some sympathy for the way he has been treated. Elizabeth McGovern? (who appears in Downton Abbey) is generally over-melodramatic, urging her daughter on and disliking the nice young chap. There is Dolly’s sister, Kitty, who is seems to be in the compensation for being the younger sister mode. Mackenzie Crook and Fenella Woolgar do have some scenes with acidic line-dropping (her forte, with him as the target). And there is the maid of honour who rather fancies the canon, who seems likely to comply. And so on.
Of course, many audiences are happy to re-visit this world (think of the versions of E.M. Forster novels). Potential audiences will probably turn up for day sessions because at night they want to be at home watching Downton Abbey.
This one is definitely a matter of taste and interest. Alternate results will be delight or irritation. This review may well have given clues to the reviewer’s response!
1. A British piece.? The 1930s, echoes of Downton Abbey, Upstairs Downstairs and other television series? Issues of wealth? The idle rich? Comic touches? Serious? Presentation of people and situations? Critique?
2. The credits, the printing of the invitation in detail? 1932? The audience trapped in a time capsule?
3. The action taking place over one day? The flashbacks for Dolly’s past filling in the background?
4. The wedding day: Dolly, her moods, in her room, with mother and sister, getting ready, the arrival of Joseph, her invitation to him, refusing to see him? The bridesmaids and the conversation? The servants, her whims? Her mother and her arguments? Wondering whether she should be marrying Owen? The discussions about love? Her drinking? The issue of her going to Albania, engagement to Owen, brief? Whether she loved him or not? Her continuing the delays?
5. Joseph, professorial background, the expedition to Greece, young, his arrival, the variety of reactions, with the servants and the questions? The clashes with Dolly’s mother? Her antagonism? His staying in the house, the conversations with people?
6. Dolly’s mother, conscious of her status, the pressures on her daughter, favoring Owen, rudeness to Joseph, trying to keep her manners, her hysterical touches? Concern about Kitty?
7. Kitty, younger, comparisons with Dolly, in Dolly’s room, questions about love, her opportunities, her flirting, behavior at the wedding, afterwards?
8. The flashbacks, the summer, the warmth of the colour, cricket matches, Joseph and his love for dolly, on the river, the prospect of marriage? His going to Greece? Dolly’s hesitation?
9. The arrival of the guests, Evelyn, friendship with Dolly, her flirtation with the minister? The minister himself, family friend, marital status? The spinster and her being locked out? Aunt Bella and her relationship with the chauffeur? The bickering couple and the ironic lines? The concern about their son, his letting off the fireworks?
10. The family, Tom and his drinking, his comments?
11. Dolly finally coming down, the stain and the dress, anxiety? Owen? The ceremony?
12. Joseph, his staying, waiting for the taxi, encountering people, the final meeting with Dolly?
13. The wedding reception, formalities, discussions, the aftermath? The future for Dolly and Owen?
14. The film for a British audience? Beyond Britain?
