Four Weddings and a Funeral, directed by Mike Newell is a 1994 British romantic-comedy. The film was an unexpected success, with worldwide box office in excess of $245.7 billion and receiving an academy award for best picture nomination. Hugh Grant stars as Charles, the main protagonist in the movie.
The film opens to a shot of embroidered flowers on a piece of paper, then zooms/rotates out to show the title “Four Weddings and a Funeral” in a serif font, written upon the same piece of paper, resembling that of a wedding invitation. Swing/jazz music plays over the top of this scene, further adding to the themes of weddings, illustrated in the title of the movie. This introduction itself helps us to realise that this film is directed at an older demographic.
The film then cuts to an establishing close-up shot of Charles (Hugh Grant) in bed, fumbling around to stop the alarm clock from alerting him to wake up. The film then cuts again to a very similar shot of another man sleeping whilst his alarm clock is ringing, but instead he wakes up and lies a suit out on his bed. This shows a contrast of attitude between these two characters, possibly even hinting at their personalities.
The film then cuts again to a medium-long shot of a woman sampling two different dresses in a mirror. She seems to be disinterested in both of the dresses, resulting in her dropping them both and walking off screen, again possibly hinting at her personality, that she’s never pleased. The film then cuts to a close-up shot of a gay couple having breakfast, smiling and laughing as one man wipes off some food from the other’s beard. There is high-key lighting in these first few shots to indicate that the scene is set in the morning, and that they’re all getting ready for an event (most likely a wedding, judging by the title of the movie).
The film cuts again to another close-up, eye-level shot of Hugh Grant still in bed, whilst the rest of the characters are getting ready. This indicates that he’s a somewhat irresponsible, possibly more relaxed character in comparison to the others shown in the first few shots. Just after another shot of the gay couple boarding a car, (presumably to transport them to the wedding) there is an establishing, long-shot of London bridge, depicting the vehicles on route to the event. This helps to set the scene; London is also a very commonly used location for rom-coms.
There is then another two quick-cuts, showing a high-angle shot of Hugh Grant still sleeping, followed by a cut back to the cars on the motorway. This highly suggests to the viewer that Hugh Grant is going to the same event, and that he’s most likely going to be late. The original swing/jazz music is still playing as the film again cuts to the vehicles on the motorway, then cuts back to Hugh Grant a second time. This time he begins to wake up, and as he does so, the music stops playing. The camera pans during this match-on-action, close-up shot of his hand as he nonchalantly reaches over to check his clock for the time and his eyes widen in realisation that he’s late for the event. He jumps out of bed and the camera cuts to him waking up his sister, who utters the word “Fuck”, the same as what Charles did when he checked his clock. This use of dialogue injects a sense of hilarity into the situation, as they both desperately get ready.
After this, the camera quickly cuts to a shot of the two of them sitting in Charles’ car. The quick cuts and use of hand-held camera in this scene are used to depict the rush that they’re in to get ready; also the music has stopped to be replaced by the diagetic noises of the car’s engine flooding to add to the sense of urgency.
A couple minutes later, they arrive at the social event. From the mise en scéne in the scene, we can quickly come to the conclusion that they’re gathered for a wedding. You can also hear diagetic noises of wedding bells in the background to further add to this impression. As a limo-type vehicle drives past, most likely carrying the bride/groom, there is a shot-reverse-shot between Charles and his sister, who run to enter the church after their exchanged expressions of desperation and horror.
From the poster of the movie above, we can see that the title of the movie is in a serif font, which is generally preferred to sans-serif when writing wedding invitations. From the mise en scéne, we can also see one of London’s highlights. Also, in semiotics, the heart with the lightning bolt struck through it could be a sign for something interrupting a couple’s relationship. The title “Four Weddings and a Funeral” indicates that the relationship being affected could lead to the event of the funeral.
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