"A-" Rating by Robert W. Hammerle

Jonathan Demme's "Rachel Getting Married" is a tour de force. A masterful piece of cinema, it's honest, humane and terribly moving.

Unlike Clint Eastwood's "Changeling, " a movie where you can't help but feel that that much of the drama was being forced down your throat, "Rachel" never cheapens itself with a single false moment. And regardless of what your perceptions may have been of Ms. Anne Hathaway, this is a truly remarkable performance that I suspect will establish her as not just a major star, but also a serious movie actress.

Rachel Buchman (Rosemarie DeWitt), a graduate student, is getting married in her family home. Her divorced father (Bill Irwin) still lives there with his second wife, Carol (Anna Deavere Smith). The entire film takes place over a weekend as two families meet and celebrate in the controlled chaos of trying to plan a rather unconventional wedding.

Unlike the sappy remake of "Father of the Bride" (1995), a superficially likable movie because of its stars Steve Martin and Diane Keaton, Demme's extraordinary film is a movie about real people. In other words, we meet an American family that is tragically, yet wonderfully dysfunctional.

And there is no one more lovably dysfunctional that Ms. Hathaway, Rachel's sister Kym, who is allowed to attend the wedding after being given a weekend pass from the rehabilitation center where she is confined. While the Buchman's are a good and decent group of people, they are collectively haunted by a tragedy relating to Ms. Hathaway's confinement. They are trying to survive a horrifying loss that has quite naturally fractured them to the core.

Ms. Hathaway is nothing short of brilliant as a damaged young woman who can't forgive herself because she can't ask anyone else for forgiveness. She gives a tortured performance that is so mesmerizing in its naked honesty that you literally ache to comfort her. At this point in the year there haven't been five better performances by a woman in a leading role than the one given by Ms. Hathaway in Demme's little masterpiece.

As the weekend unfolds and joy and sorrow collide, Mr. Demme shoots nearly every scene with a handheld camera that gives the story a sense of special intimacy. Almost every scene takes place in an around the Buchman home. It's an exceedingly warm movie that makes you almost feel like you are a member of the Buchman family.

There are some glorious moments as the family of the bride and groom share toasts to friendship and love. Several small musical groups, playing everything from old rock to romantic ballads to Jamaican reggae, serve to create a soundtrack that many (including me) will rush out to own.

Mention should also be made of Debra Winger, who plays the divorced mother of the bride and Ms. Hathaway. As a result of the emotional damage caused by the loss that haunts her entire family, she has become isolated from everyone. She is very good in an unsympathetic role of a mother who has retreated into an emotional cocoon from which she can find no escape.

Furthermore, Bill Irwin is simply captivating in a very simple way as a father who is trying to wrestle with the competing demands of his two very different daughters, both of whom he loves. He is a decent man who is trying to embrace the joy of the occasion while hiding a breaking heart.

But this movie is, as the title said, about "Rachel Getting Married." And what a glorious celebration the wedding turns out to be. You end up loving this family as they try to honestly deal with the aftermath of tragedy while fighting to let joy back into their life. As they struggle to find some path to overcome the alienation that has so viciously tormented their family, what emerges is the most human of all emotions, namely that of hope.

As you leave the theater, you can only smile through tears as you hope this little American family finds some peace and tranquility.