| | | A Jonathan Demme Picture.
Features: DVD, Widescreen, Aspect Ratio 1.85:1, Dolby Digital (5.1), Dolby Surround Sound, French, Dubbed & Subtitled
When Kym (Anne Hathaway) returns to the Buchman family home for the wedding of her sister Rachel (Rosemarie DeWitt), she brings a long history of personal crises, family conflict and tragedy along with her. 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 one-liners and flair for bombshell drama -- is a catalyst for long-simmering tensions in the family dynamic. Filled with the rich and eclectic characters that remain a hallmark of Jonathan Demme's films, Rachel Getting Married paints a heartfelt, perceptive and sometimes hilarious family portrait.
"I've never seen a movie with this mixture of fullness and desolation. Rachel Getting Married is a masterpiece." David Edelstein, New York Magazine
"A film whose lightness of touch rides a wave of family conflict to perfectly balance smiles and tears." Deborah Young, The Hollywood Reporter
"A film that is both deceptively modest and deeply resonant." Elizabeth Weitzman, New York Daily News
"A triumph -- Demme's finest work since "The Silence of the Lambs," and a movie that tingles with life." Owen Gleiberman, Entertainment Weekly
"Jonathan Demme directs his best film in years. Anne Hathaway gives an award-caliber performance. Debra Winger, simply superb." Peter Travers, Rolling Stone
Editor's Note
Young fans of Anne Hathaway's previous roles in family films such as THE PRINCESS DIARIES and ELLA ENCHANTED probably wouldn't know what to make of her character in RACHEL GETTING MARRIED. Hathaway's Kym is a recovering drug addict who leaves rehab behind to attend the wedding of her sister, Rachel (Rosemarie DeWitt, MAD MEN), but Kym's problems follow her home. Rachel cannot forgive or forget Kym's many drug-fuelled transgressions, and their father (Bill Irwin, LADY IN THE WATER) dotes on his returned daughter. As the wedding grows closer, the spotlight shifts from Rachel to Kym, much to the bride's irritation. | |The alternately hilarious and heartbreaking dialogue in RACHEL GETTING MARRIED adeptly walks the line between wit and reality, giving audiences a picture of a family that feels entirely authentic. Before directing this indie-feeling drama, director Jonathan Demme spent time doing a few documentaries, such as THE AGRONOMIST, and JIMMY CARTER: MAN FROM PLAINS. These films seem like a departure from his normal oeuvre--including THE SILENCE OF THE LAMBS--but they work as a bridge to RACHEL GETTING MARRIED. Demme chose to shoot this film with handheld cameras, lending it a naturalistic feel, as though a cameraman is simply shooting the family videos of a fascinatingly flawed group of people. The cast certainly deserves praise for the film's authenticity as well. Much has been made of Hathaway's masterly shedding of her usual roles to play the damaged Kym, but credit should also go to the other members of the cast, particularly Irwin as the too devoted father and DeWitt as the overlooked sister. Stories about dysfunctional families are nothing new in the world of cinema, but RACHEL GETTING MARRIED stands out thanks to its talented cast and excellent script from Jenny Lumet, daughter of director Sidney Lumet (NETWORK).
| Features | Audio Commentary With Actress Rosemarie DeWitt | | Audio Commentary With Producer Neda Armian, Screenwriter Jenny Lumet, & Editor Tim Squyres | | Audio: English Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound | | Audio: French Dolby Digital Stereo | | Cast & Crew Q&A At The Jacob Burns Center | | Deleted Scenes | | Dubbed: French | | Featurettes: The Wedding Band & A Look Behind The Scenes Of Rachel Getting Married | | Interactive Menus | | Scene Selection | | Subtitles: English, French |
| Entertainment Reviews
 | Rachel Getting Married - DVD Review By: Jesse Hassenger - filmcritic.com DVD Reviews Published on: 3/6/2009 6:39 PM | |
Anne Hathaway looks like a movie star, but more often than not acts like a studious, earnest head of the class. Rather than filtering characters through some kind of star persona or actorly invention, she does what is required with such technical precision that her performances lose any spark of spontaneity (that's why she didn't get any laughs playing Agent 99 in Get Smart; she somehow managed to play the straight woman role too straight). But something happens in Jonathan Demme's Rachel Getting Married....read the full review |
| Technical Info
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Release Information
| | Studio: Sony Pictures |
| Release Date: 9/22/2009 |
| Running Time: 113 minutes |
| Original Release Date: 2008 | | Catalog ID: 28334 | | UPC: 00043396283343 | | Number of Discs: 1 |
Audio & Video
| | Video: Color |
Aspect Ratio | | Anamorphic Widescreen 1.85:1 |
| Cast & Crew
| Awards |
Oscar (2009) | | | Anne Hathaway, Nominee, Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role | |
Golden Globe (2009) | | | Anne Hathaway, Nominee, Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture - Drama | |
Independent Spirit (2009) | | | Anne Hathaway, Nominee, Best Female Lead | |
Screen Actors Guild (2009) | | | Anne Hathaway, Nominee, Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Leading Role | |
Independent Spirit (2009) | | | Jenny Lumet, Nominee, Best First Screenplay | |
Image Award (2009) | | | Jenny Lumet, Nominee, Outstanding Writing in a Motion Picture (Theatrical or Television) | |
Independent Spirit (2009) | | | Jonathan Demme, Nominee, Best Director | | | Neda Armian, et. al., Nominee, Best Feature | |
Image Award (2009) | | | Rachel Getting Married, Nominee, Outstanding Independent Motion Picture | |
Independent Spirit (2009) | | | Rosemarie DeWitt, Nominee, Best Supporting Female | |
Venice Film Festival (2008) | | | Jonathan Demme, Nominee, Golden Lion Award |
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| | Professional Reviews | Rolling Stone
3.5 stars out of 4 -- "[A] loose, lively, unhurried and unmissable gem....The acting is of the highest caliber. Winger, magnificent and too long between films, is a volcano of repressed anger." 10/02/2008 p.77USA Today
"It's a humorous and moving family drama, interspersed with plenty of stark realism....Hathaway is wonderful in the role. Her nervous laughter, edginess and quick temper blend convincingly with her need for attention and vulnerability." 10/03/2008 Los Angeles Times
"It's a gratifying return to his independent film roots for Oscar-winning director Demme, a powerful screenwriting debut for Jenny Lumet, a Herculean job of hand-held cinematography by Declan Quinn and a career-changing performance by Anne Hathaway..." 10/03/2008 New York Times
"[T]he wonderful thing about RACHEL GETTING MARRIED is how expansive it seems....it has an undeniable and authentic vitality, an exuberance of spirit, that feels welcome and rare." 10/03/2008 Entertainment Weekly
"[T]he script, by Jenny Lumet, is a fully woven web of love, jealousy, and enabling demons....A triumph -- Demme's finest work since THE SILENCE OF THE LAMBS, and a movie that tingles with life." -- Grade: A 10/10/2008 p.52 Rolling Stone
Ranked #9 in Rolling Stone's 'Movies Of The Year' -- "[The filmmakers] dig deep into the joy and pain of being part of a family." 01/08/2008 p.116 Empire
4 stars out of 5 -- "It has laughs, sadness, a handheld camera style, excellent music and a spiky, complex heroine....This is raw, intimate, vital drama, and Demme's best film since LAMBS." 02/01/2009 Entertainment Weekly
Included in Entertainment Weekly's 2008 Films Of The Year -- "[Hathaway] does a study of toxic narcissism that marks her as the most vibrant actress of her generation." 12/26/2008 Total Film
4 stars out of 5 -- "[With] gut-kicking performances from a talented cast....All effectively observed by director Jonathan Demme's handheld camera." 02/01/2009 ReelViews 8 of 10
Filmmakers love weddings. The reasons are obvious: so many characters, so much potential for drama and romance, so many things that can go wrong. Weddings are also events that most people, in one way or another (whether as a guest or a participant) can identify with. Rachel Getting Married, Jonathan Demme's contribution to this field, uses a wedding and its attendant chaos as the backdrop for a character-based story about a young woman struggling to remain clean after emerging from rehab. Told in a simple, spare style that imitates Lars von Trier's Dogma initiative, Rachel Getting Married is anything but simple in the way it explores the complexities and contradictions of the lead character...Jonathan Demme has elected to produce Rachel Getting Married using minimalist techniques. The cameras are, for the most part, hand-held and many of the shots are lengthy. The lighting is all natural and there is no incidental music. At times, it feels like a home-made video of a wedding and its preparations. The film occasionally dwells on little things, like a five-minute tug-of-war between Rachel's father and fiance about who is more adept at loading a dishwasher. The goal of including all of these seemingly irrelevant details is to anchor the film's reality, but there are times when there's a little too much of this and it threatens to distract viewers from the central drama...Movies about weddings tend to highlight quirky characters and resort to facile resolutions. Neither flaw is evident here. The participants are real and the unanswered questions echo what life often provides. Rachel Getting Married is not a happy movie, but neither does it wallow in unrelieved bleakness. There's an element of hope in the ending and there are moments of understated humor sprinkled throughout. For those who enjoy character studies that explore the nature of pain and guilt, this is a solid drama. - James Berardinelli
Chicago Sun-Times 10 of 10
The rules say that critics don't discuss movies after screenings. After I saw Jonathan Demme's "Rachel Getting Married" for the second time, however, a friend asked: "Wouldn't you love to attend a wedding like that?" In a way, I felt I had. Yes, I began to feel absorbed in the experience. A few movies can do that, can slip you out of your mind and into theirs...Rachel (Rosemarie DeWitt) does indeed get married. There is an engrossing plot involving her sister Kym (Anne Hathaway). But I believe the film's deep subject is the marriage itself: How it unfolds, who attends, the nature of the ceremony, what it has to observe about how the concept of "family" embraces others, and how our multicultural society is growing comfortable with itself...Demme's achievement is shared with the original screenplay by Jenny Lumet. This is her first writing credit, but the story might have felt like second nature to her. She is descended from artists; her grandparents on her mother's side were the singer Lena Horne and the jazz legend Louis Jordan Jones; her grandparents on her father's side were Baruch and Eugenia Lumet, an actor-director and an actress. Her father is director Sidney Lumet, and her mother, writer Gail Lumet Buckley. The apple did not fall far from those trees. I don't have to be told that her life has included countless gatherings of the nature of Rachel's wedding...Jenny Lumet has an older sister, sound editor Amy Lumet. That's interesting. Is the film autobiographical? I have no way of knowing. Demme demonstrates something he shares with Altman: He likes to be surrounded by his own extended family. The gray-bearded man who performs the ceremony is his cousin, the Rev. Robert Castle, subject of Demme's doc "Cousin Bobby" (1992). And so on. Apart from the story, which is interesting enough, "Rachel Getting Married" is like the theme music for an evolving new age. - Roger Ebert
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