Directed by Kristin Scott Thomas | Written by Scott Thomas and John Micklethwaite | 95 min | ▲▲▲
I watched this movie at the Toronto International Film Festival 2023, when it was called North Star, and revisited it recently a second time. The fact it’s coming out almost two years after its festival run in the dog days of summer doesn’t suggest the studio has a lot of confidence in what really should be an autumn release. Let’s face it, this lightly fictionalized story — based on actor-turned writer-director Scott Thomas’ own life — is tailor-made for a Sunday afternoon viewing in November with a theatre full of older folks. That in no way is a criticism, but this movie is pleasant, entertaining, and will not offend.
It is the third time Scarlett Johansson has played daughter to Kristin Scott Thomas — following The Horse Whisperer and The Other Boleyn Girl. She’s the eldest of three sisters (the others played by Emily Beechum and Sienna Miller) who couldn’t be more different, but for one character note: they’re are all hung up in one way or another on their fathers/stepfathers, military men who died years before. Thomas plays their mother, about to get married for a third time to a man played by James Fleet, her brother from Four Weddings And A Funeral. The family is gathering together for the weekend, the sisters desperate to ignore their own personal problems and naturally failing to do so when presented with their siblings’ judgement.
As with many actors who step behind the camera, Thomas’ gift with other actors is plenty evident — there’s a lot of warmth amongst the ensemble, including quality British thesps Freida Pinto, Joshua McGuire, and Mark Stanley. She also utilizes lovely animated segments to bring us into Johansson’s character’s memories of a childhood with her now absent parental figure, brushing up against a childhood hurt that can only be shaken off as an adult.
But the film goes to deeply sentimental places, too — the script could’ve used a bit more of a Richard Curtis-esque edge in the writing and a ribald humour. Someone should’ve told Scott Thomas you can’t repurpose Carly Simon’s “Coming Around Again” — a song forever wedded to Mike Nichols’ Heartburn. Also, a final scene on the deck of an aircraft carrier feels like its wandered in from another movie — is there anything more thematically contrary in a film about family than this massive weapon of war? Thankfully, its presence doesn’t ruin the good bits that went before.
What My Mother’s Wedding gets right is parsing how characters idealize the past and the people in it, and take for granted the people living right in front of them. We also visit a few green and leafy Hampshire locations. You lovers of cooler weather cinema-going out there, maybe just pretend it’s November when you purchase a ticket.
