Four Weddings & A Funeral - The Funeral

Matthew pays tribute to Gareth.

Contact me today to discuss how best to say goodbye to your loved one.
Bespoke ceremonies created for living wakes, funerals and memorials.

Sunbury Celebrant Catherine Mueller
Creating Ceremony for Your Celebration

[davidbennett]

“I thought that love would last forever, I was wrong.” That voice break kills me

[robotichivemind]

It's a small moment, but imagine the love of your life being buried and being introduced as their "friend" when you go to eulogize them.

[matthewguy]

In my opinion, John Hannah should've been nominated for Best Supporting Actor at the Academy Awards, based on this scene.

[jemkat]

I had the pastor read this poem at my husbands funeral. This was one of our favorite movies and we had agreed to read this at whoever's funeral, never thought I would be keeping that promise so soon.

[alking]

Is it strange that this is my favourite scene in the whole film? For, despite the solemnity, it shows love in the most sincere and heartfelt, not to mention heartbreaking, way. Exceptional writing by the screenwriters, great direction, and such a brilliant performance by John Hannah.

For all the jokes about love that are well displayed throughout the comedy, this shows love in a real and simple way, if sad.

I absolutely love the chosen poem. The line "...My noon, my midnight, my talk, my song" is beautiful.

[LoisAGrimm]

Been watching this movie for twenty years and this scene will never fail to make me weep.

[LoisAGrimm]

Stop all the clocks, cut off the telephone,
Prevent the dog from barking with a juicy bone,
Silence the pianos and with muffled drum
Bring out the coffin, let the mourners come.

Let aeroplanes circle moaning overhead
Scribbling on the sky the message ‘He is Dead’.
Put crepe bows round the white necks of the public doves,
Let the traffic policemen wear black cotton gloves.

He was my North, my South, my East and West,
My working week and my Sunday rest,
My noon, my midnight, my talk, my song;
I thought that love would last forever: I was wrong.

The stars are not wanted now; put out every one,
Pack up the moon and dismantle the sun,
Pour away the ocean and sweep up the wood;
For nothing now can ever come to any good.

[katewarren]

There’s a lot of details about this scene that I love - the slightly bare almost spartan church makes you feel the chill of the day. Then the very prosaic industrial landscape outside when they’re loading the coffin into the hearse. It’s as though all the extravagance and colour of Gareths life has died with him and all that’s left is gritty reality.

[tomace]

This goes beyond acting.

The hurt. The pain.

You feel it... and it absolutely destroys you.

[davidstephens]

Delivered so perfectly that I have to remind myself he is acting because the grief is palpable

[puraskarmeshram]

What a performance by John Hannah! Timeless performance.

[FlashakaViolet]

it's been 26 years and I'm still crying at this.

[lindseybsmith]

We bury my Father tomorrow. This poem brings me some comfort. When someone you love dies, you can't understand why the rest of the world keeps going. You want everything, everyone to just stop & acknowledge your loved one's life. I'm no longer afraid to die. I wish for my soul, my spirit, to find his as soon as I pass. My heart is forever broken. I'm just so completely devastated & numb.

[timdungan-levant]

John Hannah's recitation of 'Funeral Blues' is a classic bit of cinema. Perfectly done.

[grahamtait]

Hannah's performance is exquisite. It must have been a surreal experience shooting that scene with so many actors assembled and channelling the same emotions. I wonder what it was like on set afterwards.

[chopin]

I am a poet.

The first time I heard this poem recited was in college. It was in an English literature class. The teacher requested each student to bring in a poem that helped them, or inspired them. One woman, not more than 20, brought in this poem, and said it helped her after her father's death. Everyone in the class was crying by the end of it. I thought: Wow. If I can write even one poem that will comfort someone in their time of grief, I will be successful.

[Stardust_]

I also love the friend with the silent laugh. This movie is so real, its little details are part of what make it so perfect.

[timdungan-levant]

The combination of John Hannah's brilliant, heartfelt work and Auden's beautiful poem make this an absolute classic.

[normadesmond]

I read this poem over and over again when my mother died in 2001. Those were the words that bescribed the loss I was feeling.

[bramvantongerloo]

The look of the mother at 1:15 is exactly the look a mother would give when hearing such stories. Great acting just in that one shot. One, if not the, best scenes in the movie.