Four weddings and a funeral. And my fourth viewing. And once again I am suffused with goodwill and warmth. Rare is the film which is so perfect. In its characterisation, its dialogues, its sheer incandescence.
Largely episodic, quientiessentially English, its about Hugh Grant and his group of friends, who keep falling in love, moving on, marrying or (in one case) dying.
Set amidst, what else, four weddings and a funeral, it follows the on-and-off-and-on affair Hugh has with the immensely attractive Andie Macdowell. Their togetherness, repartee and chemistry crackles and is one of the reasons the film glows.
But there is much much more to revel in the film. The care in fleshing out characters, where with just a few dialogues and a couple of scenes, a person comes fully alive and makes you care.
A new priest who does his first wedding, with hilarious results; Hugh's heartwarming Best Man speech; Andie's counting off her lovers in a cafe; a girl secretly in love seeing her object of affection go through numerous affairs; the intensely moving speech on the death of a friend (including the deeply-felt Auden's poem "Stop all The Clocks") ....the riches in the film are many.
The writing is immaculate, the direction nuanced and the acting first-rate.
A film to savour again and again.
~ Sunil Bhandari
April 5th, 2010
Sent on my BlackBerry
