Kristen Scott Thomas's directorial debut, Mother's Wedding, which she co-wrote and starred in, is a comedy-drama that takes a deep look at loss, grief, and healing. The film pays tribute to Thomas's two parents, whom she lost before she was 12. Clearly, her own experience became the framework for the film.
Mother's Wedding revolves around three sisters: Katherine (the eldest), Victoria (the middle), and Georgina (the youngest), who reunite to celebrate their mother's third wedding. Katherine followed in her parents' footsteps and joined the Navy, having recently been appointed the first woman to command an aircraft carrier.
Director: Kristin Scott Thomas
Writers: Kristin Scott Thomas, John Micklethwait
Stars: Scarlett Johansson, Sienna Miller, Emily Beecham
Victoria was a popular movie star who, while promoting her upcoming film, "Dame of Darkness 4," spoke on a talk show about losing her biological father at age 3 and her stepfather at age 10. Katherine and Georgina were not happy with Victoria's public statement about her family's suffering. Georgina was a nurse, and her mediocre job constantly reminded her that she wasn't up to par with her sisters' success. Internal conflicts surfaced when the three sisters gathered to celebrate their mother.
Diana was happy to have her daughters with her to celebrate her big day. She sensed that Katherine, Victoria, and Georgina didn't much appreciate her husband, Geoff Loveglove, so she felt the need to reiterate to them that she was happy and in love, and that, after all, that was all that mattered. Diana was deeply disappointed in her daughters when Victoria blurted out that Geoff would never understand children because he had never been a father (after their son Skylar climbed a tree and Geoff called the fire department to bring him down).
Diana slapped Victoria; she refused to tolerate such rude behavior. Before leaving, she told the girls to meet her at 9:30 the next morning at the cemetery. Diana and her daughters gathered every year to pay their respects to John Frost (Katherine and Victoria's biological father) and Jonathan Munson (Georgina's biological father and Katherine and Victoria's adoptive father). When Katherine told Diana that she believed they owed her and their parents an apology for their bad behavior, Diana was shocked.
She had realized that her daughters had always idolized their parents, and this had greatly affected their personal relationships. In their eyes, Jonathan and John were heroes, but Diana reminded them that they were flawed people and had both been absent fathers and husbands. She didn't hesitate to reveal that John had missed Victoria's birth, and she had every reason to wonder if any of their marriages would have worked even if their husbands had survived. She had raised her daughters to be independent women, but she feared that, deep down, they were still children seeking parental approval.
Diana remembered how conceited Jonathan was, and how far he was from the perfect father figure her daughters believed him to be. Throughout My Mother's Wedding, we witnessed glimpses of Katherine's childhood in the form of a sketch (which suggested it was a vague memory). She recalled her adoptive father, Jonathan, asking if she and Victoria would like to change their last names to Munson instead of Frost. Katherine remembered that she wanted to be faithful to her biological father, so she decided not to change her last name. Before Jonathan left for Bosnia, he asked Katherine to reflect on his proposal. After his death, she regretted not having his last wish honored. When Katherine revealed this detail to Victoria and Georgina, Victoria was disappointed, as she loved her "daddy" and would have gladly adopted his last name. But she was too young at the time, so Katherine made the decision for both of them.
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