By Annah Hackett
Taken at face value, tragedy and comedy are opposites. The former concerns tears; the latter, laughter. Yet so many of the comedies which survive the passage of time are intimately connected with tragedy. Take, for example, one of my favorite movies: Four Weddings and a Funeral. The story concerns a young man (Hugh Grant) who attends a series of weddings with his group of friends. It’s a wonderfully funny film; however the most memorable scene is the funeral of the title. One of the friends passes away, leaving behind a lover (John Hannah). At the funeral, the lover stands up and, in lieu of a eulogy, reads W.H. Auden’s “Funeral Blues.” I have never been able to watch that scene without tearing up.
