The Announcement (2000)

Director: Troy Miller

Cast: Mark Addy, David Baddiel, Morwenna Banks, Kate Hardie

A film about friendship and familiarity masking major secrets. When protagonists Beth and Ross gather all of their best friends together for an unruly drink and drug-fuelled party, the event is like many such evenings. That is, until Beth and Ross make an announcement. They tell those assembled that they have secretly married. The impact is not as simple as they had expected. We then track the events of the evening as the news affects each person in turn. Instead of the absolute approval Ross and Beth had hoped for, the news throws a harsh spotlight on everyone's relationship and notions of marriage. The film explores the confused attitudes of a generation whose model of love and romance is complex and demanding. The evening degenerates into a rash of revelations and discoveries about all of the friends, but most dramatically it unravels Ross and Beth's relationship in a way neither of them could have foreseen. This is no fairytale