Thank God He Met Lizzie

They don't make movies like this anymore! Thank so much to Alexandra Long for sharing your insight into life and relationships. The first time I watched it in February 2000 I cried for 1 hour after watching it. I blamed Guy for getting over Jenny too quickly. Last week when I watched it again - Sept 2000, I saw things differently. They had hit a brick wall in their relationship and didn't know how to fix things. That's life - If only they went to a marriage counsellor! All principle characters I thought were superb in their translation of their parts - Richard, Jenny and Cate - they might have been my neighbours across the street. Real people, with real reactions and emotions.

Towards the end of the movie, the Guy character says : "The trouble with happiness is that you don't feel it when it's there. You remember it." And I'm glad to remember that this is one of the very few movies I've ever seen that made me glad and ... (simply) happy.

I first saw this movie in 1997 and was thought it was fantastic.

The story focuses on Guy's relationship with Jenny, a fun, energetic, middle class Australian girl who has an irresistible charm. Guy, understandably, falls for Jenny and their relationship is delicately balanced with a quirky friendship that has its ups and downs. Jenny is a gregarious, fun and slightly melodramatic girl who fills Guy's life with lots of challenges. Between their lives and the growing expectation of their future together, things seem to fall apart, slowly and, at times, in a rather painful way. Have they just grown apart or has Guy stopped appreciating Jenny for what she brings to his life? Is Guy really ready yet for this sort of relationship? And so it ends, much to the disappointment and surprise of many.

Then, rather suddenly, Guy meets and falls for a slightly older and a certainly more sophisticated woman in Lizzie. She's stylish, refined and intriguing.

Before we know it Guy and Lizzie are at the alter and so the real story begins. Guy's reflection on life and love really begins. Is he doing the right thing? Does he really know Lizzie (like he knew Jenny). Was he right in leaving Jenny? This movie captures and teases the viewer with the notion of relationship timing. Love takes time and evolves in different ways. Guy's reflection questions how he fell out of love with Jenny or had that love been lost? Was Lizzie filling a void lost in Jenny's absence? Guy and Lizzie's relationship moved at a pace and, perhaps, in some way, reality hadn't arrived. Perhaps Guy hadn't given this relationship the time he gave to Jenny.

Guy survived the wedding night and seemed to then get caught up in the swirl of life without having the time to question his own needs in love and life. As the movie flashed years in to the future Guy leaves us wondering whether was Lizzie filling his life as Jenny could have....(time for a tissue by now).

This movie delves deeply in to the complexity of relationships, how they develop and our expectations of love. Life, like love, is often about timing and the right place. Perhaps in Jenny, Guy wasn't in the right place at the right time. Or perhaps he was, but wasn't ready to appreciate how happy he really was. One of the most moving moments of the movie is when Guy imagines he sees Jenny in the street years later and they stare for a moment. Jenny's expression says it all...

And whilst this may sound complex and overwhelming, this movie isn't. Its fun, fantastic and the cast are brilliant. As for the producer and director - 5 stars!! Enjoy this movie and think more about love.

David Ps - for what its worth, I fell for Jenny.......

Cherie Nowlan's directorial debut resulted in this curious movie, which is well worth seeing. It features two stories. The primary story involves Guy's (Richard Roxburgh) courtship and marriage to Lizzie (Cate Blanchett). The background story, told in flashback, features Guy's earlier passionate but tempestuous relationship with Jenny (Francis O'Connor).

The movie, released in USA as "The Wedding Party", centres not so much on the wedding itself but on Guy's memories of his relationship with Jenny as various people and situations at the wedding party remind him of his adventures and misadventures with Jenny. The curiosity is that, because of the passionate relationship, the background story is actually more interesting than the primary story.

The message, if indeed there was a message and I read it correctly, is that passionate but stormy relationships are exciting in the short term but can lose their impetus over time, whereas more stable relationships are likely to stand the test of time.

Cherie Nowlan has delivered a classy production in her directorial debut. Why hasn't she done more? Richard Roxburgh, who is virtually on screen the entire movie and who therefore carries the plot, is well cast as a quiet, unassuming fellow who can be obstenate and even nasty when aggravated. His essentially nice guy role is a contrast to his villainous roles in movies such as "Doing Time for Patsy Cline" and "Moulin Rouge". Cate Blanchett's character is slightly superficial but her acting ability, which would the next year catapult her to international stardom and an Oscar nomination for "Elizabeth", is readily apparent. Francis O'Connor has the far juicier role of Jenny and handles it well. Jane Turner performs a nice comic turn in a minor role as the wedding party co-ordinator.

There is a lot to like in this movie. Unfortunately its Australian title - "Thank God He Met Lizzie" - suggests a period piece and does not correctly portray the passion in Guy and Jenny's relationship. The USA title - "The Wedding Party" - similarly misses the mark because Guy and Jenny's relationship is the focal point of the movie - or, is, at least, the most interesting focus of the movie. Title aside, it's a movie worth seeing.

Richard Roxburgh, Cate Blanchett and Frances O'Connor are all good in this sometimes comic, sometimes poignant film about a man's remembrance of his previous lover on his wedding day, but O'Connor is the most memorable as the witty, affectionate ex-lover who is changed by the loss of her relationship.

The film has a lot to say about loss, luck, mistakes and regret in relationships. The film also shows parts of Sydney not often seen on film. Cate Blanchett won an AFI award for best supporting actress.