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Two widowers from different class backgrounds move in together, but a woman threatens to end their friendship.

In A Rather English Marriage, Roy (Tom Courtenay) and Reggie (Albert Finney) are at the hospital with their wives one night when they both find out neither of their wives are improving. Roy, seems distraught over this and that night, both of them lose their wives. Roy goes to Reggie’s wife’s funeral and after the service, goes up to offer Reggie condolences, but Reggie can’t seem to remember how they know one another. Roy reminds him they both became widowers at the same time and Reggie invites him out for a drink. Roy tells Reggie the date and time of his wife’s service if he’d like to come, but Reggie doesn’t react. However, later we see Reggie does attend.

Both men deal with their wives’ deaths very differently. Roy has his photographs set up and routinely talks to his wife while looking at them and updating her on what’s going on. Reggie on the other hand goes about his life. The only emotion he shows is when he finds out his wife made a lot of money (something he did not know about), but has left the bulk of it to her nieces and nephews and only provides a bit for him while he’s alive. She wrote a note of him before her death explaining why and says that they had a, “rather English marriage.” Reggie becomes upset only then.
Roy and Reggie decide to move in together for convenience and company. Roy moves in with Reggie since his place is larger and soon we see that Roy is taking over a servant/housewife role cooking, cleaning up, while Reggie smokes cigars, drinks and listens to music. Roy is a milkman, while Reggie is a former squadron leader during the war (and still introduces himself that way as well as frequently has flashbacks about it.) We see that Reggie does think Roy is beneath him class-wise.

Reggie meets a younger woman, Liz (Joanna Lumley) and they begin dating. She finds herself not as financially stable and she thought she was and assumes that Reggie has money (not realizing that when he dies not even the house will be hers). The two becomes engaged and Roy decides to move out when Reggie has a stroke. It is then that Reggie’s late wives’ relatives tell Roy to let Liz know Reggie has no money. Liz leaves him and soon it’s the two men alone and they find they are living in a rather “English marriage.”

Tom Courtenay is fabulous as the grieving widow. His face shows so much emotion and vulnerability. He takes all of Reggie’s crude remarks like a wounded bird. When Reggie goes back on his promise to let Roy use his car to visit his son in prison, Roy stands up for himself with quiet dignity. Later, when Reggie yells that a phone call woke him up, we see Roy’s painful expression when he says the call was to inform him his son has died. Albert Finney is perfectly cast as the gruff and obnoxious squadron leader, but it is Courtenay’s subtle and vulnerable performance that make the movie. Joanna Lumley brings a sympathetic side to a character who could have simply been written off as a gold digger.

Finney makes it hard for us to really sympathize with Reggie as he refers to Roy (when talking to Liz) as his man servant and treats him as such when he has her over for dinner. You feel for Reggie when he has his stroke, but it’s Roy you side with—especially after he offers to look after Reggie for free (when the nephew asks how much he’d expect to take care of Reggie).
A great film that shows different sides of people and gives us a real insight into the characters right off the bat. Courtenay’s scenes talking to his deceased wife’s photos and then to his son in prison are emotion packed. A Rather English Marriage is a wonderful movie with excellent acting.

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