A Wedding
With Desi Arnaz, Jr., Carol Burnett, Geraldine Chaplin.
US, 1978, 35mm, color, 124 min.
Print source: HFA
Valuing character over plot, Altman seemed to revel in ensemble casts and in structuring his films around events that throw the characters together. In this case, there is little story other than that generated out of the ritual that gives the film its title. A Wedding respects the classical unities of time and place, taking place on the afternoon and evening of the wedding reception, in the mansion occupied by the family of the groom (except for the prologue, set in a nearby church, that depicts the actual ceremony). Looking to outdo himself, Altman decided—rather arbitrarily—to double the size of Nashville’s cast, and so A Wedding features forty-eight characters. This number leaves the film little time to develop these figures in any depth; rather, the fun, as with a cartoon or commedia dell’arte, comes from watching the characters careen into each other in a kind of perpetual motion in brief episodes that run the gamut from farcical to bittersweet.
Part of film series
Screenings from this program
Buffalo Bill and the Indians, or Sitting Bull's History Lesson
Vincent & Theo
Fool for Love
Prêt-à-porter
California Split
Thieves Like Us
A Perfect Couple
A Prairie Home Companion
O.C. and Stiggs
That Cold Day in the Park
Corn's-A-Poppin'
McCabe & Mrs. Miller
The Gingerbread Man
Dr. T and the Women
Come Back to the 5 and Dime, Jimmy Dean, Jimmy Dean
