Confetti (film)

Infobox_Film
name = Confetti


caption = Promotional poster for "Confetti"
imdb_id = 0427089
producer = Ian Benson
Ian Flooks
director = Debbie Isitt
writer = Debbie Isitt
starring = Martin Freeman
Jessica Stevenson
Stephen Mangan
Meredith MacNeill
Robert Webb
Olivia Colman
Jimmy Carr
music = Paul Englishby
cinematography = Dewald Aukema
editing = Nicky Ager
distributor = Fox Searchlight Pictures
released = May 5, 2006
runtime = 100 min.
budget =
language = English

"Confetti" is a 2006 British mockumentary romantic comedy film that was released on 5 May 2006. It was conceived and directed by Debbie Isitt and stars many acclaimed British comedians, including Jessica Stevenson, Jimmy Carr, Martin Freeman, Mark Heap, Julia Davis, Robert Webb, and Olivia Colman. It follows a bridal magazine competition for the most original wedding, the ultimate prize being a house, and the three couples who are chosen to compete. The film follows the contestants in a fly-on-the-wall documentary style, akin to "The Office". The script is entirely improvised.

Cast

*Jimmy Carr as Antoni Clarke
*Jessica Stevenson as Sam
*Martin Freeman as Matt
*Olivia Colman as Joanna
*Robert Webb as Michael
*Meredith MacNeill as Isabelle
*Stephen Mangan as Josef
*Vincent Franklin as Archie
*Jason Watkins as Gregory
*Felicity Montagu as Vivienne
*Alison Steadman as Sam's Mother
*Sarah Hadland as Sam's Sister
*Marc Wootton as Snoopy
*Selina Cadell as Joanna's Mother
*Ron Cook as Sam's Father
*Jesus de Miguel as Tennis Coach
*Julia Davis as Marriage Counsellor
*Mark Heap as Registrar
*David Mitchell as Photographer

Plot

The prestigious bridal magazine "Confetti", owned by the flippant, breezy Antoni Clarke and managed by the long-suffering, uptight chief editor Vivienne is holding a competition to see who can hold the most original wedding, with the winners being presented with a new house and a cover shoot for the magazine. Three couples and their proposals are selected to participate: Sam and Matt, a good-natured couple of old-fashioned romantics who have elected to hold their wedding in the style of Busby Berkeley musicals of the 1930s and 1940s, despite the fact that Sam can barely hold a tune; Isabelle and Josef, a pair of hyper-competitive professional tennis players holding a tennis-themed wedding; and Joanna and Michael, a naturist couple who intend to hold their wedding entirely naked. To organise all three weddings, the services of Gregory and Archie, wedding planners and partners in both business and love, are utilized, and the two begin to assist each couple in preparing for their big day.

The movie follows their planning, and the various crises that each couple faces over the three-month planning period. As well as learning to sing and dance, Sam and Matt must contend with Sam's dominating mother and attention-seeking sister, who appear intent on hijacking the proceedings and constantly browbeat and undermine the shy and easily-cowed Sam (such as preventing her from inviting her beloved but estranged father), much to Matt's growing irritation. The couple must also deal with Matt's oldest friend and best man Snoopy, a musician who nurses a bitter resentment towards Sam for coming between him and Matt that he expresses in not-so-subtle lyrics that he intends to sing at the wedding. Despite the constant support and encouragement the couple receive from Archie and Gregory, the gradual tension eventually builds to a bitter argument between Matt and Sam's mother and sister which sees him kicked out of the house where he is staying with them; this prompts Sam, however, to finally stand up for herself and put her mother and sister in place.

Isabelle and Josef, meanwhile, are intensely determined to win, owing to unexplained financial difficulties. Suspicious and competitive, they become increasingly paranoid that the competition is being 'fixed' against them in favour of Matt and Sam, eventually resorting to the extreme measure of having Isabelle's nose - and her extremely large nostrils - altered by plastic surgery (with the result being that the nose she ends up with is much longer than her original one). In the process, however, they find themselves combatting their own anxieties; Josef, in particular, finds himself confronting his jealousy over Isabelle's friendship with their tennis coach, Jesus, and insecurity over his largely finished tennis career and that he will not be able to be a worthy husband to Isabelle.

Joanna and Michael, however, find their plans challenged at every turn by Vivienne, who has no intention of putting a naked couple on the front of the magazine should they win. Michael, an experienced naturist, angrily resists Vivienne's efforts to make him dress up for the wedding, but Joanna, a recent convert and still insecure about revealing her body to strangers, finds herself of mixed minds about the issue. The pressure of the magazine and the tension between the two becomes so great that it briefly looks like the marriage will not even take place at all.

The big day finally arrives, amid much jitters and anxiety on all sides. All three weddings go off largely without a hitch, although Michael and Joanna raise eyebrows when, in defiance of Vivienne's rulings, they bare all (literally) in their wedding service. The winners are soon decided - Matt and Sam, which prompts a display of sour grapes on part of Josef and Isabelle. The movie then briefly glimpses at the three couples a few months later, all of whom are adjusting to married life relatively happily.

DVD

The bonus features on the DVD include three alternate endings. One ending for each of the "losing" couples as well as an extra ending for Matt and Sam.

Production

One of the three couples whose story is followed opts for a naturist wedding. Spielplatz is used as the location for the naturist village Summerland.

Both Robert Webb and Olivia Colman have publicly criticised the film. Webb stated "I had a miserable time making it and I think the finished film is an underwhelming mess." [ [http://tmwl.project76.tv/Archive/2006_09_01_archive.shtml#115922329312390932 10 questions for Mitchell & Webb] , from [http://tmwl.project76.tv/ That Mitchell & Webb Log] ; originally featured on the BBC Two web site.] Colman claimed she had been misinformed about the amount of nudity involved in the film, and called it "the worst experience of my life." [ [http://arts.guardian.co.uk/theatre/comedy/story/0,,2105592,00.html 'Fame is quite scary'] , Olivia Colman interview from The Guardian.]

References

External links

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