To say you have a full life means that you are busy, achieve goals you’ve set, share caring relationships, and have something to look forward to. In brief, a busy, yet enjoyable life filled with variety, satisfaction and joy.
In Rosa’s (Candela Penya) case, it means a life full of demands from her family, friends and work colleagues who exploit Rosa until she breaks. At work as a seamstress for an entertainment company, Rosa’s colleagues treat her as if she’s invisible, although she ensures everyone’s costume is there when needed and fulfils the requirements of the cast and crew. Her work as a seamstress is seamless.
Rosa's Family
Her brother, Armando (Sergi López), whose marriage is in decay, expects her, after Rosa has done a hard day’s work, to care for his children, cook their dinner before putting them to bed and then going home to her own apartment.
Her sister, Violeta (Nathalie Poza), selfishly expects Rosa to care for their father and take him to medical appointments so Violeta can live her life. Rosa’s father, Antonio (Ramón Barea), because he has been recently widowed, decides to move in with Rosa in her apartment.
Rosa’s daughter, Lidia (Paula Usero), is living alone with her twins and depends on Rosa. A friend hands over her cat for Rosa to care for, while her friend, get ready for it, goes on holiday. Someone else asks Rosa to water their houseplants and then promptly leaves them on the staircase outside her apartment. To top it off, they all have the gall to complain when she can’t accommodate their demands.
And then there’s Rosa’s boyfriend, Rafa (Xavo Giménez). You get the idea. No more detail is needed. Rosa’s life is truly full in the same way that somebody in quicksand is sinking fast into the quagmire up to their eyeballs. Like quicksand, Rosa’s life is pulling her down, giving her that sinking feeling and sucking the life out of her.
Rosa’s life is hanging on the proverbial thread.
That all sounds heartbreaking and solemn, yet Rosa’s Wedding is ultimately about a person having a light-bulb moment, or, as Rosa puts it, pressing the “nuclear button”, and re-setting what is important in her life. Enough is enough. The first relationship Rosa needs to re-establish is with herself.
She decides to get married on the spur of the moment to change her life completely. And the person she is going to marry will not be anyone in her circle of friends and family. But it will be the closest and most important person in her life. I think you know who I’m talking about. The name begins with an 'R'
As a result of her decision, Rosa, her job, her family and her desires are reinvigorated.
She reconnects with her mother’s dilapidated dressmaking business that needs some attention, a bit like Rosa herself.
She believes she can rescue her overwhelming sense of drowning in other people’s expectations about what they want her to do.
When she announces excitedly to her immediate family that she is getting married in an intimate ceremony on the beach, much to her expressed wishes to the contrary, friends and family immediately take command of her marriage plans and the wedding becomes an enormous event with family, townspeople, a band, the municipal council and a banquet.
Rosa's Wedding
Once again, Rosa’s life is shaped, planned and determined by others in her life. Just like before, Rosa doesn’t have a say or, more precisely, the others don’t listen to what she has to say.
There’s a lot of tears, heartache, misrepresentations, anger, and the occasional pretty frock with which to contend.
Rosa confronts family, friends, townspeople and the menagerie of guests at her family-planned wedding, and reveals the person she will marry. Most people--all the people initially--are confounded, confused and incredulous. Rosa’s marriage partner is unconventional.
When Rosa finally decides, for a second time, that enough is enough, she learns to live a fulfilling life because she respects herself, identifies what is important for her and knows that life is not about meeting other people’s expectations about how you should lead your life. It takes a lot of soul searching, an emotional upheaval and the determination to stand for what matters in Rosa’s life.
Rosa
Rosa accepts unconditional love for and of herself.
And when Rosa is comfortable within herself, she then mingles with everything else that life offers. Rosa, in the end, influences the life path of her brother, sister, daughter and father and they gain an insight about their own lives and their selfishness. They didn’t even realise what was needed because they were so involved with there own lives.
Rosa triumphs. The beach wedding proceeds with the full coterie of guests and life is illuminated.
To put a conventional spin on the ending, Rosa lives happily ever after with the most important person in her life because she knows herself, trusts herself and believes in herself. She is strong; she is confident; she is Rosa.
Be part of Rosa's wedding. It's a real celebration. You'll enjoy it.
Official Trailer Rosa's Wedding
Rosa’s Wedding (2020)
Spanish language with subtitles.
Screening in cinemas. Check your local cinema for session times.
FILM EXTRAS: Family Matters
The Royal Tenenbaums (2001)
Royal Tenenbaum and his wife Etheline had three children and then they separated. All three children are extraordinary --- all geniuses. Virtually all memory of the brilliance of the young Tenenbaums was subsequently erased by two decades of betrayal, failure, and disaster. Most of this was generally considered to be their father's fault. The Royal Tenenbaums is the story of the family's sudden, unexpected reunion one recent winter.
Crazy Rich Asians (2018)
Rachel Chu is happy to accompany her longtime boyfriend, Nick, to his best friend's wedding in Singapore. She's also surprised to learn that Nick's family is extremely wealthy and he's considered one of the country's most eligible bachelors. Thrust into the spotlight, Rachel must now contend with jealous socialites, quirky relatives and something far, far worse -- Nick's disapproving mother.
My Big Fat Greek Wedding (2002)
Everyone in the Portokalos family worries about Toula (Nia Vardalos). Still unmarried at 30 years old, she works at Dancing Zorba's, the Greek restaurant owned by her parents, Gus (Michael Constantine) and Maria (Lainie Kazan). After taking a job at her aunt's travel agency, she falls in love with Ian Miller (John Corbett), a teacher who is tall, handsome and definitely not Greek. Toula isn't sure which will be more upsetting to her father, that Ian is a foreigner or that he's a vegetarian.
Toula's father has a special, endearing connection with Windex. He calls it a wonder drug.
Monsoon Wedding (2001)
A BAFTA-winning film about a father, Lalit Verma, trying to marry off his daughter, Aditi, in the traditional manner. Aditi is having second thoughts, while her cousin Ayesha Verma, 17, is just beginning to realise she's attractive to boys, and her other cousin, Ria, has a shocking revelation. Her brother, however, just wants to dance.
The Farewell (2019)
A Chinese family learns that their grandmother has a short time to live so they organise a wedding before her death. Billi's family returns to China under the guise of a fake wedding to stealthily say goodbye to their beloved matriarch -- the only person that doesn't know she only has a few weeks to live. However, Billi is unhappy with the family's decision.
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