AGUDA, Carl John Rafael S.

October 24, 2019

Eng 1 THU Word Count: 791

Movie Review and Analysis

Four Sisters, A Wedding and A Family: An Analysis of the Movie

Four Sisters and a Wedding is a Filipino comedy-drama film which depicts four sisters

who come together by their refusal to let their little brother marry a woman they do not approve.

It hilariously captures how the Salazar sisters attempt to thwart the engagement of their youngest

brother while maintaining the depth the film wants to portray.

The film also slyly captures how Filipino households are depicted as being close knitted,

but this steadily proves a problem when each member of the family is locked to one specific role.

Each child is expected to provide for the family once graduated. It comes back around as a cycle:

parents will provide, send you to a good school, support you until you graduate, and then you’re

expected to send your younger siblings to school.

Teddie, as the eldest, is tasked with helping her mother send the rest of her siblings to

school. This makes her pursue a job in Spain to be able to provide for her family. Due to

unfortunate circumstances, she is laid off her work and is reduced to being a waitress at a pub.

This is a far cry from her degree in education she garnered from the University of the

Philippines. However, Teddie is the ultimate embodiment of Filipinos who value saving face

over being honest. Her pride as the eldest makes her spew lies on how she is a tutor of one of the

King of Spain’s children. And as the film continues to unravel, we see how Teddie struggles to

give part of her paycheck to her family, seeing as she can barely fend for herself. Despite her

poor circumstances, she arrives back home with a flourish and glamour that suggests she had
been living lavishly in Spain. This is uncannily how Filipinos often showcase the prettiest plates

and cups whenever there’s a guest present.

Contrary to Teddie, Bobbie is perceived as the cool, calm, collected child. She is an over-

achiever yet is always compared to Teddie. Growing up, she had been used to the constant

comparison between her and Teddie. Her achievements were numerous yet often overlooked in

favor of her mother playing favorites with the elder sister. Though presented as a one-

dimensional character, the film slowly melts her stoic nature and reveals a young woman

desperately aiming to garner everyone’s approval to satisfy her insecure nature. Bobbie is the

only sibling to not have graduated from UP but is the most successful financially. As she had

been often lost in their family dynamic, Bobbie struggles with being the mother of her

boyfriend’s child in fear of not measuring up to the child’s birth mother. This also reflects her

unsure nature on how a mother should treat her child as she had grown up feeling unneeded.

Alex seems to be a misfit or black sheep of the family. Though she is a graduate from

UP, she has the least number of academic awards hanging from their wall. This is not to say that

Alex is dumb by any means, but maybe because she excels in other areas aside from academics.

Among her sisters, she took the more creative path and became a director. This may point how

she would like to at least relish the feeling of having control. Her two older sisters have dictated

their family for a long time and Alex has always felt the need to follow their footsteps. Maybe

this turned her to somewhat of a rebel in the family. Her being a director is a metaphor of how

she would like to gain some control of the happenings around.

The youngest of the sisters, Gabbie, is considered as the old maid of the family. While

her sisters up and left after college, Gabbie stayed at home and took care of their mother. This

illustrates how the trait of being family-oriented sometimes locks other members of the family
down. While her older siblings get to chase their dreams, Gabbie has to settle for holding their

family down and keep her own ambitions quietly to herself. It is only at the end of the film that

she gets to pursue what she truly wanted, and it is the first time that we get to see her not being

overshadowed by her family’s decisions.

All in all, the film says a lot about a traditional Filipino Family. The film depicts and

shows that those family traits that is literally toxic, seems to be normalized in a local family

setting. The film also, is a very effective movie, in a way that it addresses the significance of

familial bonds, accepting change as a part of life & renewing ties broken.

So, if you haven’t watched this film, it is really a must watch. 5/5.