Cheerful Weather For The Wedding: A Downton Abbey Deleted Scene?

Emily White ’16 / Emertainment Monthly Editor

Cheerful Weather for the Wedding is like an after-dinner peppermint. It’s sweet and refreshing – but little else. It is a sumptuous and beautiful scene, well-acted (if perhaps a little indulgently), but one is left wondering what the movie was made for other than to look and feel rich? The film reads more like a series of beautiful photographs than a riveting drama. It centers around the wedding day of a high-society young woman in 1930s Britain, and a long lost romance of her past.

            Downton Abbey fans will rejoice at the similarities between this movie and the high-acclaimed series. None the least of which is Elizabeth McGovern, in a role almost identical to her role of household mistress Lady Grantham, as the household mistress who is mother to the bride, Dolly, in this movie. Perhaps the only difference is that this time she is widowed and a bit more vapid. The on-off intense unmarried relationship between Dolly and Joseph closely parallels the relationship of Lady Mary and Matthew Crawley in Downton. Ellie Kendrick shines as Dolly’s feisty younger sister, who, though similar to Mary’s rebellious sister, Sybil, brings a much-needed shake-up to the stiff-lipped pre-wedding gathering the movie centers around.

            Cheerful Weather for the Wedding is a great character study, with subtle wit, humor, and regret, just as any proper upper-class British family would be unfashionable not to have. This film is a great pick for any Brit-o-philes or Downton Abbey-ites, who will enjoy the uber British-ness of the language and mannerisms, and the beautiful costumes, scenery, and art direction. However, those looking for a drama to challenge the mind or stir the soul should look elsewhere.

Showtimes at the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, Mass.:

December 16, 2012, 12:30 pm – 2:00 pm

December 19, 2012, 3:00 pm – 4:30 pm

December 20, 2012, 7:45 pm – 9:15 pm

December 21, 2012, 5:30 pm – 7:00 pm

December 22, 2012, 10:30 am – 12:00 pm

December 23, 2012, 3:15 pm – 4:45 pm

For pricing and more information on the film please visit http://www.mfa.org/programs/film.