153: Muriel's Wedding

Few films that I’ve encountered on the list have been as surprisingly fun as P.J. Hogan’s Muriel’s Wedding (1994).  The film has been a semi-underground international hit since its initial mid-nineties release in Australia, but has experienced a recent surge in interest due to its citation as an inspiration for the musical Mamma Mia! (2008). I haven’t seen that film, but even despite the presence of Meryl I doubt that it is as good as this picture.  Watching it I was reminded of Baz Luhrmann’s Strictly Ballroom (1992) and how that film took something I have almost no interest in (ballroom dancing) and made it my life for an hour and a half.  At its conclusion I wanted to flamenco more than at any other time before or since (or hopefully ever).

            Here a similar phenomenon occurred with the music of ABBA.  Now I don’t mean to hate on Icelandic pop stars, but let’s just say I’m not exactly the “Dancing Queen” type.  However, a good movie can inspire even the coldest of Scrooges to hope for Christmas and the hardest of conservatives to cry for peace.  Toni Collette, in an inspired performance, embodies a woman, Muriel Heslop, who lives for the hope of a beautiful wedding someday.  She finds solace from the mundane constraints of her lower middle class life in Porpoise Spit Australia only in the music of ABBA, and because she loves them, we love them too.  I haven’t exactly been Bjorn again or anything, but Collette somehow makes this quirky character, and by rights this film, work and had my toes tapping to “Fernando” by its conclusion.  This vicarious jubilation cannot be overrated, as it is what sets the good movies apart from the very good movies.

            This isn’t a love story for everyone. It probably isn’t a love story at all, but it is a story about the hope for love and the love you find from the people who support you in that hope.  At the film’s outset Muriel isn’t so much thriving on hope as she is surviving on it.  Her domineering father and trashy siblings certainly don’t make her life easy, and to top it off her “friends” have just asked her to stop coming around.  Through a small con she makes her way to a resort island where she meets an old high school classmate (Rachel Griffiths) who exposes her to the possibilities of happiness through liberation from her parents.  For a brief moment, Muriel feels like her life has become a good enough story for ABBA to write a song about. 

            After moving to Sydney she is still searching for love.  In the meantime she decides its best to start trying on wedding gowns just incase she does find Mr. Right.  Things seem to fall apart and come together all at once and before she knows it, she has found someone who will marry her.  Whether he is “the one” or not doesn’t really seem to matter at this point.

            Much more happens thereafter, but I’ll leave it for you to discover yourself.  In the end, this is a terrific film about hope, and friendship (the scenes between Collette and Griffiths are fantastic), and the upsides of being true to oneself.  It’s a delight for ABBA lovers I’m sure, but more so it is a testament to the power that we give music, whatever kind it may be, in our lives.  It helps to create our dreams and heal our broken hearts when we’ve reached our Waterloo.

Grade: 3.5 Hats Off