Cheerful weather for the wedding

image for Cheerful weather for the wedding

Short takes

Not recommended under 12 (Themes; Lack of interest), Parental guidance recommended 12 to 14 (Themes)

Age
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
classification logo

This topic contains:

  • overall comments and recommendations
  • details of classification and consumer advice lines for Cheerful weather for the wedding
  • a review of Cheerful weather for the wedding completed by the Australian Council on Children and the Media (ACCM) on 22 April 2013.

Overall comments and recommendations

Children under 12 Not recommended due to themes and lack of interest
Children 12-14 Parental guidance recommended due to themes
Children 14 and over OK for this age group

About the movie

This section contains details about the movie, including its classification by the Australian Government Classification Board and the associated consumer advice lines. Other classification advice (OC) is provided where the Australian film classification is not available.

Name of movie: Cheerful weather for the wedding
Classification: PG
Consumer advice lines: Mild themes
Length: 92 minutes

ACCM review

This review of the movie contains the following information:

A synopsis of the story

Taking place at a large country house in Devon in the 1930s, Cheerful Weather for a Wedding centres on the difficult decision faced by a young woman on her wedding day. Romantic and spirited Dolly Thatcham (Felicity Jones) is preparing to marry the kind but dull Owen Bigham (James Norton). However, as she hides upstairs drinking rum in an effort to calm her nerves, she struggles to forget a summer fling she had with the handsome Joseph Patten (Luke Treadaway).

Meanwhile, Joseph lurks downstairs, trying to find a way of seeing Dolly in an effort to explain how he truly feels and that he still loves her. Dolly’s mother (Elizabeth McGovern) shows her disdain for Joseph at every possible turn, and tries to prevent him from seeing the bride. When the two finally meet just before Dolly leaves with her husband, Joseph asks her to run way with him and Dolly now has a final decision to make.

Themesinfo

Children and adolescents may react adversely at different ages to themes of crime, suicide, drug and alcohol dependence, death, serious illness, family breakdown, death or separation from a parent, animal distress or cruelty to animals, children as victims, natural disasters and racism. Occasionally reviews may also signal themes that some parents may simply wish to know about.

Love, relationships and marriage; family reputation and obligation

Use of violenceinfo

Research shows that children are at risk of learning that violence is an acceptable means of conflict resolution when violence is glamourised, performed by an attractive hero, successful, has few real life consequences, is set in a comic context and / or is mostly perpetrated by male characters with female victims, or by one race against another.

Repeated exposure to violent content can reinforce the message that violence is an acceptable means of conflict resolution. Repeated exposure also increases the risks that children will become desensitised to the use of violence in real life or develop an exaggerated view about the prevalence and likelihood of violence in their own world.

None of concern

Material that may scare or disturb children

Under fiveinfo

Children under five are most likely to be frightened by scary visual images, such as monsters, physical transformations.

Young children may be disturbed by a scene where a dead bird is seen having its head cut off in the kitchen, during dinner preparations

Aged five to eightinfo

Children aged five to eight will also be frightened by scary visual images and will also be disturbed by depictions of the death of a parent, a child abandoned or separated from parents, children or animals being hurt or threatened and / or natural disasters.

Children in this age group may also be upset by the above-mentioned scene

Aged eight to thirteeninfo

Children aged eight to thirteen are most likely to be frightened by realistic threats and dangers, violence or threat of violence and / or stories in which children are hurt or threatened.

Nothing of concern

Thirteen and overinfo

Children over the age of thirteen are most likely to be frightened by realistic physical harm or threats, molestation or sexual assault and / or threats from aliens or the occult.

Nothing of concern

Product placement

None of concern

Sexual references

There are some sexual references in this movie, including:

  • In order to tease Dolly’s sister Kitty, Joseph says while sitting with others at the dinner table “I’m told Peter has a tattoo. It’s up to you (Kitty) to find it for us”. Kitty’s mother tells Joseph not to be disgusting.
  • During the climax of the film, Joseph reveals to the wedding guests that the reason Dolly rushed to marry Owen is that she is pregnant and that the baby could be his. 

Nudity and sexual activity

There was limited sexual activity in this movie, including:

  • There are two passionate kisses between Dolly and Joseph; one takes place in flashback, while the other is on Dolly’s wedding day.

Use of substances

  • As the film takes place on the day of Dolly’s wedding, everyone appears to be drinking socially. One woman states “I need a drink”, and her husband replies “You’re fond enough of that”. At another point, two women discuss a man named Tom, who was apparently “as drunk as a skunk”.
  • When Joseph arrives at the house, he gives a small package to an eight-year-old boy, stating “They’re homemade, so the strength may vary, one every two hours, preferably at meal times.”
  • While getting ready for her wedding upstairs, Dolly drinks from different bottles in an effort to calm her nerves.
  • People smoke cigarettes and cigars.

Coarse language

None of concern

In a nutshell

Cheerful weather for the wedding is a quintessentially British film dealing with questions of love, obligation and sacrifice. It presents a young woman’s struggle to decide between the man she previously loved and who broke her heart, and her safe and financially stable fiancé for whom she feels very little passion. The film demonstrates that this is not an easy decision to make. It suggests that following her heart and choosing her ex-partner would be an ultimately foolish act. However, at the same time, the film depicts the importance of not running away from one’s problems. Dolly has rushed into a marriage in an effort to deal with both a broken heart and a pregnancy. As a result, she is dealing with the consequences of her actions, just as she will need to deal with the consequences of her choice between the two men in her life.

Although there is little in this film to disturb young children, its theme makes it more suitable for teenagers and adults, and it lacks interest for under 12s.

Issues arising from the film that parents may wish to discuss with older children include:

  • The complex nature of romantic relationships, and Dolly’s dilemma and final choice.
  • The nature of family obligations and social class, the impact they have on individual people and how this has changed since the time in which the film is set.
  • Using alcohol to deal with emotional stress.