THE MOVIE PAGES presents ANNE HATHAWAY in RACHEL GETTING MARRIED rachelgettingmarried.htm

What Do The Critics Say?

"If anyone can claw the Oscar statuette from Kate Winslet’s eager hands, it’s likely to be Anne Hathaway for her brittle, emotionally ragged performance as a recovering drug addict."
Wendy Ide UK TIMES
"Demme's capturing of the communal spirit of weddings and harsh reunions creates something quite honest and refreshing, with an unusual energy that more films could use."
Michael Smith TULSA WORLD
"Among moments of humor and heartbreaking beauty... the twinned performances of Hathaway and DeWitt shine."
Sean Means SALT LAKE TRIBUNE
"Cathartic, uplifting and lacking the earnestness that Hollywood ladles over addiction movies, this beautifully wrought piece is a joy."
Kat Brown THE LONDON PAPER
"The wonderfully complex mix of cultures, actors and bystanders is a mirror for the complexity of life itself and all the performances are flawless. Dewitt is excellent at Rachel, while Bill Irwin and Debra Winger bring great subtleties as the divorced parents who still carry the scars of past events. This is a powerful film that exposes raw emotions, and whose layers build until the satisfying and complete resolution, heralding a beginning, not an ending."
Louise Keller URBAN CINEFILE

"Packed with wry humour, decent performances and with a deep understanding of what makes our relatives so wonderful and exasperating at the same time."
David Edwards UK DAILY MIRROR
"Rachel Getting Married is one of the most alive things you'll see all year."
Brandon Fibbs BRANDON FIBBS
"The dramatic moments do make an impact, and the tears they draw from you will scald."
Lawrence Toppman CHARLOTTE OBSERVER
"Superbly directed, emotionally engaging drama with a terrific central performance from Anne Hathaway."
Matthew Turner VIEWLONDON
"An insightful film with a powerful performance at the core."
Boo Allen DENTON RECORD CHRONICLE
"It's Hathaway's extraordinary performance that is the film's brightest accomplishment."
Colin Covert MINNEAPOLIS STAR TRIBUNE
"Bravo to Demme, Lumet, and three extraordinary actresses."
Carrie Rickey PHILADELPHIA INQUIRER
"Captures what has to be one of the coolest and most emotionally enthralling wedding celebrations ever. It's simply a great movie."
Richard Knight WINDY CITY TIMES
"Those who surrender to Demme’s disarming, almost participatory technique will find themselves overwhelmed, exhilarated and inspired by the eternal possibilities of cinema."
Tom Huddlestone TIME OUT

The Inside Story About ten minutes into "Rachel Getting Married", there’s a moment when Kym, newly returned to the Buchman family home, wanders down an upstairs hall and steps into a sunlit child’s room. Violin music drifts up the stairs from the musicians practicing below. Kym looks around the room for a few seconds, and moves on. Nothing happens: but the moment is powerful. "I wanted something sad floating through there," producer/director Jonathan Demme recalls. "I had my headphones on, looking at the monitor, and Declan was doing this beautiful shot: Kym turns around, starts from the camera, and that was Zafer Tawil’s cue downstairs to start playing. I heard that haunting music and saw Anne’s face respond." Demme remembers running after Zafer and asking, "Zafer, what was that beautiful tune?" "That’s what I composed for you," Zafer ("Until When") responded. "So this rich musical theme was revealed to us as we were making the movie, and to Annie in character as Kym. It was all in the moment and there it is, onscreen. That spontaneity, capturing unrehearsed the moody chemistry of Zafer Tawil’s composition, Declan Quinn’s restless camera, and Anne Hathaway’s bereft gaze: was the guiding principle of the Rachel Getting Married production, says Oscar winning director Demme ("The Silence of the Lambs"). "The looseness of Jenny’s script made me feel that this shouldn’t be a tightly directed movie. At every step of the way, Jenny went to an unexpected place and went further and further off formula and never pulled back. I was really amused and intrigued by the fact that Jenny didn’t try to make you like these characters. They were smart, edgy, irritating and yet halfway through reading the script I felt like I had become part of the family and cared tremendously about all of them. There’s terrible trauma in this family, and yet the wedding is beautiful. I wanted Rachel Getting Married to explore both sides of that paradox: the dark struggle, and the celebration of love and family and friends." To portray those polarities, Demme, cast and crew took an unconventional approach to every aspect of the film’s production. Long, loosely staged scenes play out accompanied by live music; documentarystyle camerawork and editing tell the story; and eminent actors mingle onscreen with movie novices, musicians, artists and dancers in a creative mix. "We all agreed to let reality happen in front of the cameras without trying to manipulate it from behind the scenes too much. Consistent with that we didn’t do any rehearsals, and nobody, not even Declan, really knew what the shot was going to be until the take started taking shape," says three time Independent Spirit Award winning cinematographer (1996, '08 & 2004) and the films D.O.P. Declan Quinn. As lengthy scenes played out from start to finish, Quinn ("Leaving Las Vegas" 1995 & "In America" 2002) and his camera crew prowled the family home with handheld cameras, capturing on the fly the characters’ exchanges, speeches, big gestures, and small sidelong looks. The action moved forward with few takes and as little obtrusive preparation as possible. "In the intimate scenes," says producer Neda Armian ("The Truth About Charlie" & "Jimmy Carter Man from Plains"), "there would be the main characters in gutwrenching conversation, and Declan. He was almost like one of the actors, part crew and part cast, relying on his instincts, skill and confidence to know where to point the camera. I like to say this movie has Jonathan’s heartbeat and a lot of Declan’s blood."

"The way we worked was very empowering to the cast, and brought the emotions to the surface. As the DOP I don’t usually operate the camera myself, but it gave me the freedom to make immediate choices; I tried to see the action as a viewer in the room would: to put the audience in the midst of it," says father of four (Stella, Sarah, Rae and Alice). During the long wedding party scenes, strategic cameras were literally placed in the actors hands to augment the 'pro' cameras: Gonzales Joseph, who plays Sidney’s cousin in uniform, is never seen without a small prosumer camera; indie filmmaker Jimmy Joe Roche ("American Combatant") is the official wedding videographer, and two of the digicamwielding guests are Demme’s mentor 1997 Golden Eddie Filmmaker of the Year Award winner Roger Corman ("The Little Shop of Horrors" 1960 & "The St Valentine's Day Massacre" 1967) and ace cinematographer Charlie Libin ("Able Danger"). A safe zone for dangerous emotions The unrehearsed, improvisational shooting style suited the story’s emotional high voltage. "There was such an atmosphere of trust," says 2009 Oscar nominee Anne Hathaway ("Rachel Getting Married"), who manages to bring wounded humanity to the unrelentingly difficult character of Kym. "Since we never knew when the camera was on us, the cast had to listen every second, and achieve a very intense level of focus." Like the freeform shooting style, the music was an integral element played out with unconventional freedom. "For the longest time," Gotham Award winner Demme ("The Agronomist") recalls, "I’ve had this desire to try to provide the musical dimension of a movie without traditionally scored music. I thought: wait a minute, in the script, Paul is a music industry bigwig, Sidney’s a record producer, many of his friends will be gifted musicians, so of course there would be nonstop music at this gathering. Following that logic, we have music playing live throughout the weekend, but always in the next room, out on the porch or in the garden." Among the legion of musicians, dancers, and performers whom Demme enlisted to fill the ranks of the wedding party, jazz great Donald Harrison, Jr and Palestinian virtuoso Zafer Tawil, contributed original throughline musical themes and are credited as composers (they also brought along plenty of accompaniment: Harrison‘s Grammy nominated nephew Christian Scott shows up to jam at the reception, and Tawil is joined by an ensemble of players from the score of "Jimmy Carter Man From Plain"s including Amir ElSaffar.) "The musicians were encouraged to play whenever they were inspired to, the more the better, never paying attention to the rolling camera," music supervisor, editor and 2002 Golden Reel Award winner Suzana Peric ("LOR: The Fellowship of the Ring"), who has worked on every Demme film since "Something Wild" explained. "Musical anarchy on the set. Bliss for the musicians, big headaches for those who had to record them." Jenny Lumet credits a lifetime in a complicated, artistic family for her screenplay’s perfect pitch. "I’m a good listener." Improvisation expanded on the script’s strikingly authentic dialogue. 2005 Tony Award winner Bill Irwin ("Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?") told how the actors tuned in to storytelling that wasn’t on the page. "As scripted, my character Paul and Debra Winger’s character Abby, my exwife, hardly exchange any dialogue. But Debra and I followed our instincts, and enlarged that relationship without words, through gestures."

"Every person, every face in the film is there for a reason," says Armian, who was Demme's assistant on "That Thing You Do!" "Jonathan loves real people, and loves working with his friends, which creates a real camaraderie and ease. We were really having a wedding. I wasn’t a producer, I was a wedding planner." Armian invited his friends to participate. Going local, most of the cast and crew were based in the New York area. He recalls how "people actually went home at night and saw their families." "One of the conceits of the script was that, despite the drama, the wedding goes great. Let’s face it, the reason you can have a great wedding is because you get a bunch of people together who hit it off and have a great time at a once in a lifetime event. I couldn’t imagine how that could be 'acted' by extras," Demme stated. "Over the weekend, there are two different kinds of gatherings going on: people gathering to have fun at the wedding, and other people engaged collectively in the epic struggle against addiction, gathering together to gain strength from that community on a parallel track. We wanted to show maximum respect for that courage and honesty." 2002 & 2008 National Board of Review Award winning actress Anne Hathaway ("Nicholas Nickleby" & "Rachel Getting Married") who co-starred with the late Heath Ledger in "Bokeback Mountain", sees those qualities in Kym. "I love Kym’s almost compulsive need for honesty and how direct she is. Her timing may not be appropriate, but she’s trying so hard to get across the chasm of tragedy that separates her from her family. She’s trying every day to choose joy and sobriety. She’s fighting for her place in the family, trying to acknowledge and atone in her own way. At the end, maybe her sister Rachel understands her journey, and that acceptance is crucial." Demme says "I had wanted to work with Anne Hathaway since watching her in a crowd at a screening five years earlier, already being an admirer of her appearances so far in the movies I'd seen." There are some well known faces that feature in the lead roles. Three time Oscar ("An Officer and a Gentleman", "Terms of Endearment" & "Shadowlands") and five time Golden Globe nominee Debra Winger plays Rachel and Kim's mother. Demme revealed, "I was able to pump up the nerve to ask Debra Winger to be in the picture because we had met several times at a film centre close to both our homes." Bill Irwin, who played Lou Lou Who opposite Jim Carrey in "How the Grinch Stole Christmas", plays the girls father. "Bill is a dear friend and a neighbor, and one of my favorite actors of all time." 2008 Satellite Award winner Rosemarie DeWitt was cast as Kym's sister Rachel. Demme says she "was suggested by our casting directors, and all of us immediately wanted her very badly to play rachel." One cast member I must give a nod to, is Tunde Adebimpe, who plays Rachel's husband to be, Sidney. Adebimpe who was born in St Louis, Missouri, and grew up in Nigeria and in the Pittsburgh, PA area, is a graduate in film production of NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts, where he specialized in animation. Check out your local DVD outlet and have a look at Adebimpe starring as George Abiola in, "Jump Tomorrow". It's a charmer. As for the look of the film, Declan and Demme both felt that the film should try to look like "the most beautiful home movie ever made", as though every scene was captured on digital by a friend with a camera, or even by the ghost of a character whose death haunts this family. "Rachel Getting Married" is ultimately focused on that emotional honesty, right to the depths of Kym’s eyes as she hears the sad violin music wafting upstairs. Synopsis

Kym has been in rehab for nine long months. Now it's time to venture back into the real world and rejoin her family. But when she returns to the Buchman family home for the wedding of her sister Rachel, she brings a long history of personal crisis, family conflict and tragedy along with her. There is familiarity in the home but Kym feels like an outcast. The wedding couple’s abundant party of friends and relations have gathered for a joyful weekend of feasting, music and love, but Kym, with her biting oneliners and flair for bombshell drama, is a catalyst for longsimmering tensions in the family dynamic. Wanting to reclaim her place within the family, she makes her presence felt, pushing, prodding, demanding. The house becomes a pressure cooker of emotions in the lead-up to Rachel's big day. Kym's past is haunting her. Her father and her step-mom are trying hard. Will Kym spoil the day?

The Verdict

"Our little teen Princess, who won the hearts of young audiences as well as mum and dads with her roles in "The Princess Diaries" and "The Princess Diaries 2: The Royal Engagement" shows just how far her progression as a first class actress has come with this outstanding performance as the tortured, caustic, disassociated Kym, in "Rachel Getting Married", for which Hathaway has been nominated, along with Angelina Jolie ("Changeling"), Kaye Winslet ("The Reader"), Meryl Streep "Doubt" and Melissa Leo ("Frozen River") in the Best Lead Actress category for the 2009 Academy Awards. Her latest film, "Rachel Getting Married" might best be described as an eclectic cross-dressing art-house film. The film has the look of an art-house film, but thanks to the vision of director Jonathan Demme ("The Truth About Charlie, "Philadelphia" & "The Manchurian Candidate"), cinematorapher Declan Quinn ("Pride and Glory") and all those who contributed to the glorious music that abounds within it, "Rachel Getting Married" has enough appeal and 'big names' to attract a wider audience amongst those who frequent the multiplexes but are always on the lookout for something quirky and 'different', without being too way out there. Those who take-in the film will be glad the joined Rachel Buchman for her wedding. The reception is vibrant, colorful and most memorable. Not to be missed. SOLID 4 STARS." Crew Bytes "RACHEL GETTING MARRIED" was .......
directed by Jonathan Demme ["Caged Heat", "Swing Shift", "" and "Murder Incorporated"]; written by Jenny Lumet ["Rachel Getting Married"]; set decoration by Chryss Hionis ["Shadowboxer", "Reservation Road" and "27 Dresses"]; costume design by Susan Lyall ["She's The One", "Flightplan" and "Music and Lyrics"]; production design by Ford Wheeler ["We Own the Night" and "Reservation Road"]; edited by Tim Squyres ["The Wedding Banquet", "Sense and Sensibility", "Gosford Park" and "Syriana"]; cinematography by Declan Quinn ["Leaving Las Vegas", "28 Days" and "Breakfast on Pluto"]. Who's Who?

Anne Hathaway
Rosemarie DeWitt
Mather Zickel
Bill Irwin
Anna Deavere Smith
Anisa George
Tunde Adebimpe
Debra Winger
Jerome Le Page
Beau Sia
Dorian Missick
Kyrah Julian
Carol-Jean Lewis
Herreast Harrison
Gonzales Joseph
Paul Lazar

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Kym
Rachel
Kieran
Paul
Carol
Emma
Sidney
Abby
Andrew
Norman Sklear
Dorian Lovejoy
Sidney's Sister
Sidney's Mom
Sidney's Grandmother
Sidney's Cousin
Ukranian Al