ANNE Hathaway is, along with Angelina Jolie, an early contender for an Oscar nomination for her gritty performance in Jonathan Demme’s festival-pleaser Rachel Getting Married.

When Kym (Hathaway) returns to the family home for the wedding of her younger sister Rachel (Rosemarie DeWitt), she trails a long history of personal crisis, family conflict and tragedy behind her. The happy couple have gathered together a joyful party of friends and relations, but the family frictions run deep, and Kym’s acerbic one-liners and flair for drama seem likely to drag them to the surface.

Demme’s film, shot mostly in a hand-held camera style to heighten the sense of authenticity, features brilliant performances from Hathaway and DeWitt, as well as support from a tremendous ensemble cast and a troupe of players made up of musicians, performers and friends of the director. It’s this, as much as anything, that helps to create a feeling of raw intimacy. Sometimes, you may even feel that you’re crashing this particular wedding, and the dysfunctional family putting it together!

The film has already been one of the hits of the Venice Film Festival, as well as the current London Film Festival, which Hathaway attended, along with the film’s director.

Speaking on the red carpet from London’s Leicester Square, she remained cautious about perpetuating any Oscar talk at this early stage, but admitted to being flattered that her performance had been tipped for success.

Sandra Hebron, artistic director of the London Film Festival, said of the film: “It’s a pleasure to watch a film in which complex and flawed women take centre stage, and despite the film’s refusal to ingratiate or tug at our heart strings, we care about them anyway.”

While critics in America have been similarly gushing. Among the many positive reviews the film has received, USA Today wrote that “Rachel Getting Married is at its best in scenes featuring Hathaway’s mercurial character. It’s a triumphant and darkly nuanced role for her and a departure from the more lighthearted comedic performances she has given”.

While The Chicago Tribune opined: “Hathaway, DeWitt, Irwin and especially Winger are working at a very high level. So is their director. His intuition regarding how to film this particular milestone event, and the stories unfolding in the margins, turned out to be just right.”

The Washington Post, meanwhjile, wrote: “The film is Demme-esque, harking back to the darkness and emotional complexity of The Silence of the Lambs and the madcap energy of Something Wild.”

Newsweek stated that “Rachel Getting Married takes a familiar subject – the raw nerves of American family life with – and draws fresh blood”, while Rolling Stone noted that “Demme calls Rachel Getting Married a “home movie.” A home run is more like it, going deep into the joy and pain of being human”.

The New York Times pointed out that it has “an undeniable and authentic vitality, an exuberance of spirit, that feels welcome and rare”, while Entertainment Weekly declared it to be “Demme’s finest work since The Silence of the Lambs, and a movie that tingles with life”.

Variety completes this overview, however, by stating: “Brimming with energy, elan and the unpredictability of his Something Wild, Jonathan Demme’s triumphant Rachel Getting Married may just lay the wedding film to rest, being such a hard act to follow.”

The film is due to open in UK cinemas in 2009. View photos from the Rachel Getting Married London Premiere

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