My Mother’s Wedding Movie Review

“My Mother’s Wedding” is directed and co-written by Kristin Scott Thomas. It’s a very personal story.

Scarlett Johansson, Sienna Miller, and Emily Beecham come together in England for Diana’s, their mother (played by Thomas), third wedding. Both of their fathers, birth and step, were in the Royal Navy and were killed in action, heroes to the family. However, the men are all over this film through sketches, Katherine’s (Johansson) introspection gives us, as her way of coping with her mother marrying yet again. The sketches work, showing a little girl playing with her fathers, getting to know them, but also watching them leave her, something she’s getting used to seeing. Their father and stepfather were best friends, so it was natural for the girls to see them both as dads, not looking for a label of any sort.

One thing that seemed essential to Katherine was her insistence that they keep their “real” father’s last name, Frost. When Victoria (Miller) and Georgina (Beecham) discover that the decision was made by her alone, a heated argument ensues. The women are there for their mother’s wedding, and Katherine doesn’t want her to take Geoff’s, the husband-to-be (played by James Fleet of Four Weddings and a Funeral and The Vicar of Dibley), name either. Katherine testifies that the name defines who she is as a woman. Does it improve the woman to take a man’s name?

A giant black bird flies over the church after the wedding. An omen, as the time the girls spend before and after the wedding is met with the bickering and badgering of one another. All three of them have relationships going down the tubes and should leave their mother alone. She isn’t having troubles. Katherine calms down after talking to Geoff, who asks her to stop worrying about her mum because he has her. Their mother is why his heart beats. There’s a call back to that line later. You’ll find that it’s used very well.

Georgina sees a video of her husband mixed up with what seems to be a woman of the night doing things to him that would make the devil blush. The older sisters have the same parents, whereas Georgina only shares a mother with them. A decent marriage and two beautiful daughters were all she had to hold over their heads. Now, she has nothing and takes it out on them. The weekend, filled with secrets being thrown at one another, left and right, is being ruined. Diana all but pulls the women by the hair for a good talking to. This is the best part. Thomas’ Diana gives an in-depth monologue, telling her daughters to stop holding their fathers up on a pedestal they don’t belong on, and gives them some truth. She suggests they stop living in a fantasy land and let go of the children they were by paying more attention to the children they have. This is the scene in the movie you needed to see, and it’s the one you knew you’d get. Unfortunately, I think “My Mother’s Wedding” would have been a better short film because it lacked enough substance to keep you engaged. It was probably the first time director, but the script was all over the place, too, trying to be much more than it had to give.

“My Mother’s Wedding” is only in theaters starting today, August 8^th.

I suggest waiting for a streaming watch because Thomas takes her very personal story and gives it to characters not well thought out enough to keep her audience there to hear the very best parts she offers to them.