Kristen Scott Thomas explores the scars of war, in a somewhat autobiographical story. Thomas lost her father and step father serving as fliers for the Royal Navy.  So many military wives must bear the struggle of dealing with long absences of their spouses that they rarely see because of their service. Many lose loved ones in wars, and in My Mother’s Wedding, Thomas brings home the struggles of the mother’s who alone must raise their children.  

Scarlet Johanson plays the oldest daughter who is the first woman to hold the position of the Commander of an aircraft carrier in the Royal Navy.  Prestigious as it sounds, she sacrifices spending time with her family and throughout the movie rarely smiles.  She carries the responsibility of carrying on the tradition of her fathers,  and when she stays in her old bedroom reflecting on her memories portrayed in animated black and white images.  Are the memories real, or mere impressions of an internal world she created.  She remembers her step father wanting her to take his name, yet she resists, clinging to the image of her birth father.  Are we all looking for fathers, protectors?  

Certainly her sister Victoria, played by Sienna Miller is an actress who lives in fantasy worlds.  Since her childhood she has hungered for love in all the young men who might give her attention. Presently Victoria is considering taking up the offer of a wealthy older French man referred to by the sisters as “Le Grand Fromage”, who would be her father’s age, promising her financial security as his mistress. He arrives at the wedding in his own corporate helicopter between business deals.

Writer, director, star, Thomas certainly gained attention with her Oscar nomination for “The English Patient,” another story of suffering after the second World War.  In real life she married a French doctor and raised three children, living in Paris.  The day of her third wedding she emphasizes that love and kindness are what matters as you age.  Her new husband sings her a french song, and so the celebration continues in a green garden in the countryside. Her youngest daughter, played by Emily Beecham, has her eyes opened to the truth of her own marriage.  She is a nurse, with two children who has been so keen on living what appears to be a “normal” family life, she cannot no longer deny the lie she has been living with a cheating husband, played by James Fleet.

My Mother’s Wedding is the type of film that in the day of The English Patient, certainly would have played for weeks in your local theatre.  Word would spread that this film is a touching story with a beautiful cast of characters all coming together to share a few hours exploring their hidden secrets and healing past trauma.