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Four Weddings and a Funeral
(1994, UK)
In Mike Newell's surprise R-rated British hit, a romantic
comedy with explicit language and content, it told about an on-again/off-again
romance between a British bachelor and an American female - who often
met at weddings (and one funeral):
- in the opening scene set in London on May 1st,
witty and charming 32 year-old bachelor Charles (Hugh Grant) and
his quirky, tone-deaf roommate Scarlett (Charlotte Coleman) woke
up in their shared apartment, and accompanied by a barrage of many
F-words, the two realized that they had overslept and were late
to a wedding - an habitual practice; they raced in Scarlett's slow
40 mph car to St. John's Church in Somerset, England for the wedding,
arriving just in time
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Charles (Hugh Grant)
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American Journalist Caroline "Carrie" (Andie
MacDowell) |
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Matthew (John Hannah)
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Scarlett (Charlotte Coleman)
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Fiona (Kristin Scott Thomas)
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Gareth (Simon Callow)
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- the film's 'first' wedding
was between Angus (Timothy Walker) and Laura (Sara
Crowe), with Charles serving as best man (but he had forgotten the
ring!); two of the attendees were the highly-energetic, gregarious Gareth (Simon
Callow) and Matthew (John Hannah), two loyal and committed gay partners
- after the service in the church garden, Charles was
warned by his ascerbic, jealous, wealthy, long-time friend
Fiona (Kristin Scott Thomas) about one of the attendees
wearing a very wide-brimmed black hat - an American journalist and
fashion editor named Caroline "Carrie" (Andie MacDowell)
- "Slut...Used to work at Vogue. Lives in America now. Only gets out with
very glamorous people. Quite out of your league"
- under one of the outdoor tents, Fiona spoke with trainee-vicar
Father Gerald (Rowan Atkinson) who was nervous about conducting services
in the future; Fiona observed how the recent
ceremony was like sex: "Rather like the first time one has sex...Though
rather less messy, of course, and far less call for condoms"
- during the post-ceremony dinner, the bumbling Charles
spoke to the gathered audience and stated how it was his second time
to be best man; during a funny speech, he added that it was unfortunate
that his previous time, the couple divorced after a disastrous two
days; he then drunkenly added for the current couple:
"I am, as ever, in bewildered awe of anyone who makes this kind
of commitment that Angus and Laura have made today. I know I couldn't
do it and I think it's wonderful they can"; he then proposed a toast
for "the adorable couple"; the spirited
Gareth joined the newlyweds on the dance floor for some outrageous moves;
Charles kept staring at the American Carrie, and Matthew questioned if
it was "love at first sight"
- meanwhile, bridesmaid Lydia (Sophie Thompson) was
depressed and upset about the lack of attention she had received: "I
was promised sex. Everybody said it. 'You'll be a bridesmaid, you'll
get sex, you'll be fighting 'em off.' But not so much as a tongue
in sight"; Bernard (David Haig) suggested: "Well, I mean, if you fancy
anything, I could always...," but she declined: "Oh,
don't be ridiculous, Bernard. I'm not that desperate"; however,
as everything was winding down, the couple were seen passionately kissing
as people slowly departed
- afterwards, Charles changed his overnight plans and
met up with the elusive, pretty and unique American Carrie in her
Room 12 accommodations at The Lucky Boatman pub; she invited him
in: "Well, why don't you come in and skulk for a while"; she flirtatiously
spoke about how they were faced with deciding to have sex or not:
("So I noticed the bride and groom didn't
kiss in the church which is kind of strange. Where I come from, kissing
is very big...I always worry I'll go too far, you know, in the heat
of the moment"); Charles asked: "How far do you think too far
would be, then?"; she offered him different kinds of kisses to measure
their intimacy; she gave him an innocent peck on the cheek, and then
a kiss on the lips ("Maybe this would be better"); Charles
remarked: ("I think it would be dangerous to take it any further"),
but then after another very passionate kiss,
he added: ("That might be taking it a little far")
- as the two removed each other's clothes to have sex,
Charles thought that they were at the "honeymoon" stage: ("This kind
of thing is really better suited to the honeymoon than to the
service itself"); then, he answered Carrie's question about the reason
for the term 'honeymoon': "I suppose it's, uh, 'honey' because it's
sweet as honey, and 'moon' because it's the first time a husband
got to see his wife's bottom"; the two slept together (an uncommitted,
one night stand or tryst)
- the next morning, Carrie
played a trick on Charles by asking: ("Just before I go, when
were you thinking of announcing the engagement?...Ours. I assumed since
we slept together and everything, we'd be getting married") -
but then he realized that she was joking - and he expressed profound
relief: ("God! For a moment there, I thought I was in Fatal Attraction. I thought
you were Glenn Close and I was gonna get home and find my pet rabbit
on the stove"); she confided: "I think we both missed
a great opportunity here"; Carrie surprised
Charles by telling him that she was leaving and returning to America
- three months later in London, the 'second' of the
film's four weddings was between Bernard and Lydia; again, Charles
and Scarlett were late and had to run all the way to the church;
the service was officiated by nervous trainee-vicar
Father Gerald; in the film's most hilarious sequence,
the confused, inept, fumbling, malaprop-spouting Father Gerald mixed
up their names as he recited the vows for the "awful-wedded" marital
couple, including saying "Holy Goat" and "Holy Spigot" instead of "Holy
Ghost or Spirit"
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The 'Second' Wedding: Bernard and Lydia
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Hilarious Wedding Vows Scene With Father Gerald
(Rowan Atkinson)
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- at this 'second' wedding, the charming
(and engaged!) Carrie introduced Charles to her older, snobbish Scottish
fiancee Hamish Banks (Corin Redgrave); immediately depressed, Charles
mentioned to Matthew how he was forever a bachelor: "Why
am I always at, uh, weddings, and never actually getting married,
Matt?...Maybe it's me"; during the post-wedding
dinner, Fiona confessed to a nosy seat mate at her table, that she
had always been secretly in love with Charles: 'The truth is, I have
met the right person, only he's not in love with me. Until I stop
loving him, no one stands a chance"
- the commitment-phobic Charles realized he was in the midst of a predicament,
seated at a wedding table where tales were told about his ex-girlfriends,
and he squirmed and cringed while listening to their recollections: "I
seem to be stuck in the wedding from hell, ghosts of girlfriends past
at every turn. Next thing you know, I'll bump into Henrietta and the
horror will be complete" - and then Henrietta (Anna Chancellor) appeared; Charles retreated to one
of the nearby rooms, and hid when the sex-crazed married
couple entered; he was tortured by the sounds of their vigorous sex on a bed
- elsewhere concealed under a table while others danced,
Scarlett spoke to one of the young bridesmaids, and complained about
not having a boyfriend: "Because
most of the blokes I fancy think l'm stupid and pointless - and,
so, they just bonk me and then leave me. And the kind of blokes that
do fancy me, I think are drips. I can't even be bothered to bonk
them. Which does sort of leave me a bit nowhere"; she defined
'bonking' for the young girl: "Well, it's kind of like table
tennis, only with slightly smaller balls"
- Charles found himself cornered by a very clingy
Henrietta, who labeled him as a commitment-phobe and explained how
he was in "real trouble:" ("You're sort of turning into a kind of
serial monogamist. One girl after another, yet you'll never love
anyone, because you never let them near you")
- although Carrie was engaged and Charles thought the
couple had departed by taxi, Carrie returned explaining that only
her fiancee had departed for Scotland; she asked: "Keep me company?";
she reluctantly but eagerly agreed to have a night-cap with Charles
at her hotel, and joked: "I think we can risk it. I'm pretty
sure I can resist you. You're not that cute," but then spent the night with him
- one month later, he awoke and remarked to Scarlett:
"I'm taking advantage of the fact that for the first time in
my entire life, it's Saturday and I don't have a wedding to go to";
to his shock, Charles received an invitation to Carrie's wedding
in Scotland; while gift-shopping at her expensive registry store,
he happened to meet Carrie who suggested: "Just get me an ashtray";
she asked for his advice for an "important decision" she
had to make: "Are you free for about a
half-hour?" - the selection of her wedding dress; she modeled
a varied selection of dresses for him
- afterwards at a cafe-pub, she
discussed her prolific sexual history with Charles, and hilariously
recounted her experiences with a total of 33 sexual partners; her 6th
encounter was when she was 17 years old; partners 12-17 were during
her university years; her 32nd partner ("was lovely") -
and then she revealed that Charles was actually # 32 (one before
her fiancee), after which she summarized her recounting: ("...So
there you go, less than Madonna, more than Princess Di - I hope.
And, how about you? How many have you slept with?")
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Modeling Wedding Dresses For Charles
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At a Pub With Charles, Carrie Discussing Her Promiscuous
Sexual History
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Charles' Hesitant "I Think I Love You" Declaration
of Love to Carrie
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- outside, Charles nervously
ran after Carrie, and hesitantly declared his 'romantic' love for
the about-to-be-married female; stuttering, he referenced David Cassidy's
song: "I Think I Love You": ("Uhm, look. Sorry, sorry. Uh, I just,
uhm, well, this is a really stupid question and, uhm, particularly
in view of our recent shopping excursion, but, uh, I just wondered,
if by any chance, uhm, ah, I mean obviously not because I am just
some git who's only slept with nine people, but-but I-I just wondered...uhh.
I really feel, umm...in short, to recap in a slightly clearer version,
uh, in the words of David Cassidy in fact, uhm, while he was still
with the Partridge Family, uh, 'I think I love you,' and uh, I-I,
uh, just wondered by any chance, you wouldn't like to... Umm...Uh...Uh...No,
no, no, of course not...Uhm, I'm an idiot, ha, he's not... Excellent,
excellent, fantastic...lovely to see you, sorry to disturb...Better
get on..."; she responded: "That was very romantic," and he continued:
"Well, I thought it over a lot, you know, I wanted to get it just right.
Important to have said it, I think...Said, uh, you know, what I, what
I just said about, uh, David Cassidy")
- she kissed him on the cheek: "You're lovely", but then
walked off and left him standing alone
- one month later, the film's 'third' wedding was set
in Perthshire, Scotland (at the Glenthrist Castle's Chapel), where
Carrie married Scotsman Hamish Banks; as usual, Charles arrived late;
after hearing the recitement of vows, Charles muttered to himself:
"F--k-a-doodle-doo"; after the ceremony, Gareth observed: "It's
Brigadoon! It's Bloody Brigadoon!";
he also encouraged everyone else: "Tonight,
these are your orders: Go forth and conjugate. Find husbands and
wives"; Scarlett met a tall Texan named Chester (Randall
Paul), and Fiona told a stunned Charles of her unrequited love for
him: ("I've been in love with the same bloke for ages....You, Charlie. It's
always been you. Since first we met, oh so many years ago. I knew
the first moment. Across a crowded room. Or lawn, in fact. Doesn't
matter. There's nothing either of us can do. Such is life. Friends
isn't bad, you know? Friends is quite something")
- suddenly, during a toast by Hamish, Gareth
collapsed onto the floor and died of a heart-attack, presumably after
some vigorous dancing, and the wedding celebration ended
- at a moving funeral ceremony
- the film's acting highlight was Matthew's words of remembrance
for "jolly" and "splendid bugger" Gareth, Matthew's gay partner: ("I
hope joyful is how you will remember him. Not stuck in a box in a
church"), followed by his poignant
reading of W. H. Auden's Funeral Blues at the memorial service for: ("Stop all the clocks,
cut off the telephone, Prevent the dog from barking with a juicy
bone, Silence the pianos and with muffled drum, Bring out the coffin,
let the mourners come. Let the aeroplanes circle, moaning overhead,
Scribbling on the sky the message: He is Dead. Put crepe bows 'round
the white necks of the public doves, Let traffic policemen wear black
cotton gloves. He was my North, my South, my East and West. My working
week and my Sunday rest. My noon, my midnight, my talk, my song.
I thought that love would last forever: I was wrong. The stars are
not wanted now, put out every one. Pack up the moon and dismantle
the sun. Pour away the ocean and sweep up the wood, For nothing now
can ever come to any good.")
Matthew's Reading at Funeral For His Gay Partner
Gareth
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- ten months later in the final scene - the film's
'fourth' wedding, Charles had announced he was tying the knot with
Henrietta at St. Julian's in Smithfield (London); Charles was fooled
by his friends into thinking that he was late for his own wedding
with "Duckface" (Henrietta's nickname by Fiona); after Charles
noticed Carrie was in attendance, she informed him that she had
separated from the older Hamish after a brief marriage of only
a few months: ("He wasn't the man for me after all....We left each other"); they
both realized that the timing was awful, and as he was about to
approach the altar, Charles began swearing ("Bugger, bugger!"),
changed his mind and sought to delay the proceedings
- during the ceremony at the altar when the priest
asked if there were any objections, Charles' deaf
younger brother David (David Bower) expressed, in sign language,
that Charles was in doubt and loved someone else: ("I suspect
the groom is having doubts. I suspect the groom would like to delay.
I suspect the groom loves someone else"); Charles
assented to the priest: "I do"; reacting to the rejection
with rage (Get out of my way! Let me kill him!"), Charles'
bride Henrietta punched him in the face to end the ceremony
- shortly later outside Charles' home,
Carrie arrived in the rain to apologize for causing a disruption
in Charles' marriage; Charles admitted: "Marriage and me - we're
very clearly not meant for one another"; he was finally able to
declare his utter and true love for Carrie in the rain: (Charles: "There
I was, standing there in the church, and for the first time in
my whole life, I realized I totally and utterly loved one person.
And it wasn't the person standing next to me in the veil. It's
the person standing opposite me now - in the rain"; Carrie: "Is
it still raining? I hadn't noticed"); and
then awkwardly, he did not ask for her hand in marriage:
("But first, let me ask you one
thing. Do you think, after we've dried off, after we've spent
lots more time together, you might agree not to marry
me? And do you think not being married to me might maybe
be something you could consider doing for the rest of your life?
Do you?") - Carrie's response:
"I do," was accompanied by a kiss, and the camera rose into
the air to capture a lightning bolt in the cloudy sky
- in the film's final image (in the ending slide-show montage of various new marital couplings
- future weddings), Fiona was with a very surprising groom - Prince
Charles! - to the tune of "Going to the Chapel"
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Charles and Scarlett Arriving Late - and Hurriedly Getting Dressed
for Wedding
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Fiona Disparaging "Carrie" to Charles
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Charles' Funny Comments During "First" Wedding Dinner
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Bernard Consoling Bridesmaid Lydia
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Carrie Flirting In Her Room With Charles with Various
Kisses
Charles and Carrie: "That might be
taking it a little far"
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The Next Morning
Charles After The One-Night Stand With Carrie: "I
thought I was in Fatal
Attraction..."
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Carrie's Fiancee: Hamish Banks (Corin Redgrave)
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Charles Caught in Room Where Bernard and Lydia Were Having Sex
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Charles' Clingy Ex-Girlfriend Henrietta (Anna Chancellor)
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Carrie's Second Overnight Tryst With Charles
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Carrie's Wedding to Hamish in Scotland
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Fiona Admitting Her Love For Charles at Carrie's Wedding
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Gareth's Fatal Heart Attack
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Before Charles' Wedding, Carrie Admitted She Was Separated From
Hamish
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Objections to the Marriage by Charles' Deaf Younger Brother
David (David Bower)
Ending Scene in the Rain Between Charles and Carrie
Fiona with Prince 'Charles'
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