Four Weddings And A Funeral is a very funny British comedy as we move through the weddings and funeral following Charles's quest for a mate· Of special interest is the director Mike Newell treatment of the gay couple, Matthew and Gareth· They are treated Linchpin


Matthew and Gareth remain one of my favourite gay couples in mainstream cinema, simply because the film treats their relationship so matter of factly. By not shouting about it, it almost becomes more politically powerful, as it presents homosexuality as part of the fabric of life that’s barely worth commenting on because it’s so normal.

In most cinema homosexuality is still the ‘other’, something unusual to be remarked on, but in Four Weddings it’s quiet, loving and powerful. It also leads to the film’s highest emotional point, and it actually says something that they’d base that moment on a tragedy that’s befallen a gay relationship. Gareth and Matthew often get forgotten when people talk about gay characters in cinema, and it’s because the fact that they’re gay is so incidental and unremarkable, but in truth it makes them all the more powerful.