FOUR WEDDINGS AND A FUNERAL

'''Four Weddings and a Funeral''' is a 1994 British romantic comedy film directed by Mike Newell. It was the first of several films by screenwriter Richard Curtis to feature Hugh Grant. The film was an unexpected success, becoming the highest-grossing British film in cinema history with worldwide box office in excess of $244 million worldwide.^[1]

Contents

Synopsis

Soundtrack

Locations

Principal cast

Awards and recognition

Award wins

Award nominations

Recognition

Popular culture references

See also

References

External links

Synopsis

The film follows the adventures of a group of friends through the eyes of Charles, a frequently tongue-tied and ''faux pas''-prone Englishman, played by Grant, who is smitten by Carrie, an attractive American played by MacDowell, whom Charles repeatedly meets at weddings and at a funeral.
The first wedding is that of Angus and Laura (Timothy Walker and Sara Crowe). Charles and his collection of single friends are concerned that they will never get married. At this wedding, Charles meets Carrie for the first time and spends the night with her, but she regards it as a one-night stand.
The second wedding is that of Bernard and Lydia (David Haig and Sophie Thompson), a couple who got together at the previous wedding. This sequence features Rowan Atkinson in a cameo as an inexperienced priest. The reception is not an enjoyable one for Charles, who finds himself seated on a table with several ex-girlfriends, as well as bumping into Henrietta (known by his friends as "Duckface"), with whom he has had a difficult relationship in the past. His terrible evening is completed when he hears that Carrie is engaged to Hamish, a wealthy Scottish politician. Charles and Carrie still spend the night together.
During the interim period, Charles meets Carrie while searching for an affordable wedding present and ends up helping to choose her wedding dress. Carrie also astonishes him with a list of 30+ sexual partners. He later confesses to her that if her wedding is unsuccessful, he would like to have a relationship with her but she politely declines.
The third wedding is that of Carrie at a Scottish castle. Charles attends, depressed. At the reception, Charles's friend Fiona (Kristin Scott Thomas) confesses that she has always loved him, but Charles does not requite her love. At the wedding Charles's friend Gareth (Simon Callow) dies suddenly of a heart attack.
The funeral is that of Gareth. At the funeral, Matthew (John Hannah in one of his first screen roles) recites the poem ''Funeral Blues'' ("Stop all the clocks...") by W. H. Auden. It is only at this point that the script makes clear Matthew and Gareth were a gay couple, rather than just friends as the audience may have assumed. Charles and Tom (James Fleet) have a discussion about the nature of true love.
The fourth wedding is that of Charles, who has decided to marry Henrietta out of desperation. However, at the wedding, he meets Carrie, who has separated from her husband. At the altar, when the vicar asks if anyone knows a reason why the couple should not marry, Charles's deaf brother David (David Bower) uses sign language to announce that Charles doesn't love Henrietta. Henrietta punches Charles and the wedding is abruptly halted.
At the end, Carrie visits Charles, who is recovering from the debacle, to apologise for attending. Charles confesses that he has finally realised the person he would like to spend his life with is not the woman he was about to marry. He doesn't want to get married at all, but he does want Carrie to be his partner. The couple then vow that they will never, ever, marry.
The end credits include a montage of photographs documenting the futures of other characters in the film. All are shown on their individual wedding days, except for Fiona, who is shown (satirically) with Prince Charles. The happily-unmarried Carrie and Charles are pictured with their baby boy.

Soundtrack

The original score was composed by British classical composer Richard Rodney Bennett. The movie also featured a crowd-pleasing soundtrack of popular songs, including a cover version of ''Love Is All Around'' performed by Wet Wet Wet that remained at number 1 in the British charts for fifteen weeks and was then the ninth (now twelfth) biggest selling single of all time in Britain. This song would later be adapted into ''Christmas is All Around'' and sung by the character of Billy Mack in Richard Curtis' 2003 film ''Love Actually''.

Locations

Despite appearing to be set all over the UK almost all the filming locations were in London and the Home Counties. They include Betchworth in Surrey, Amersham in Buckinghamshire and West Thurrock in Essex. Even the scenes set 'in' Scotland were filmed at stately homes in Surrey and Hampshire.[1]

Principal cast

★ Hugh Grant: Charles

★ Andie MacDowell: Carrie

★ James Fleet: Tom

★ Simon Callow: Gareth

★ John Hannah: Matthew

★ Kristin Scott Thomas: Fiona

★ David Bower: David

★ Charlotte Coleman: Scarlett

★ Rowan Atkinson: Father Gerald

★ Anna Chancellor: Henrietta ("Duckface")

Awards and recognition

Award wins

★ 'BAFTA Awards':

★
★ BAFTA Award for Best Film

★
★ BAFTA David Lean Award for Direction (Mike Newell)

★
★ BAFTA Award for Best Actor (Hugh Grant)

★
★ BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Supporting Role (Kristin Scott Thomas)

★ Australian Film Institute:

★
★ Best Foreign Film

★ British Comedy Awards:

★
★ Best Comedy Film

★ César Awards:

★
★ César Award for Best Foreign Film

★ Chicago Film Critics:

★
★ Most Promising Actor (Hugh Grant)

★ 'Golden Globe Awards':

★
★ Golden Globe Award for Best Actor - Motion Picture Musical or Comedy (Hugh Grant)

★ Writers Guild of America (WGA):

★
★ Best Screenplay - Original (Richard Curtis)

★ Writers Guild of Great Britain:

★
★ Film - Screenplay (Richard Curtis)

Award nominations

★ Academy Award for Best Picture

★ Academy Award for Best Screenplay - Original (Richard Curtis)

★ BAFTA Award for Best Film Music (Richard Rodney Bennett)

★ BAFTA Award for Best Screenplay - Original (Richard Curtis)

★ BAFTA Award for Best Supporting Actor (Simon Callow)

★ BAFTA Award for Best Supporting Actor (John Hannah)

★ BAFTA Award for Best Supporting Actress (Charlotte Coleman)

★ Directors Guild of America Award for Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Motion Pictures (Mike Newell)

★ Golden Globe Award for Best Motion Picture - Musical or Comedy

★ Golden Globe Award for Best Actress - Motion Picture Musical or Comedy (Andie MacDowell)

★ Golden Globe Award for Best Screenplay (Richard Curtis)

Recognition

The film was voted the 27th greatest comedy film of all time by readers of ''Total Film'' in 2000. In 2004, the same magazine named it the 34th greatest British film of all time. It is number 96 on Bravo's "100 Funniest Movies".

Popular culture references

The film's title became a popular catchphrase at the time.

★ On an episode of ''The Simpsons'', an ''Itchy and Scratchy'' cartoon was called ''Four Funerals and a Wedding'', a joke that was also used in ''Harry Enfield and Chums''.

★ In The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (Abridged), Shakespeare's comedies are grouped together under the title ''Four Weddings and a Transvestite''.

★ In ''Ocean's Twelve'', Linus Caldwell makes the mistaken assumption that Julia Roberts, who plays a character in the film that is meant to closely resemble the real-life actress, was in ''Four Weddings and a Funeral'', which Julia Roberts' character disputes.

★ In an episode of ''Married...with Children'' Al and Peggy are in a video store trying to pick a video to watch. When Peggy asks if he'd like to watch ''Four Weddings and a Funeral'', Al responds "That's five of the same thing!"

★ During an interview on ''This Morning'', Anna Chancellor was asked why her character, Henrietta, was nicknamed 'Duckface'. Chancellor replied that it was a cleaner version of the name used in the original script, 'Fuckface' - unaware the programme was being broadcast live.

See also

★ ''Notting Hill'', also written by Curtis and starring Grant.

References

1. Business Data for Four Weddings and a Funeral ''Internet Movie Database'', accessed February 15, 2007.

External links

★

★

★