The
beginning of the war starts at the Engagement party, during chapter 5 .The
speeches are given and the maid of Honor, Anne is called to the stage. Anne
gives a short, appropriate speech wishing Lillian and Doug a life of happiness. Immediately following Anne’s speech Helen
takes the stand, without an introduction, and begins speaking directly to Lil.
This begins the war between Anne and Helen for Lillian’s friendship and the coveted
maid of honor position. Helen begins telling intimate stories of her time with
Lillian and uses inside jokes, trying to prove that she’s a better friend to
Lillian. As Helen states “Lillian you my
best friend”, the shot goes directly to Anne. A very close shot showing her
emotions of anger and the need to compete. The shot doesn’t go directly into
her eyes rather it shows Anne clearly looking at Helen on stage. Anne combats Helen’s
speech reminding that Lillian and her
are lifelong friends, like sisters and by clearly stating that she is the maid
of honor “even though you had other choices”
as Anne looks to the crowd, the
audience can infer that she means Helen.
Helen then combats Anne’s “lifelong friends speech” with stating that is rare to meet
someone in adult hood that you can connect with so well, she is trying to show
their mature friendship, and then attempts to make herself look superior by
telling stories about extravagant trips and speaking in different languages.
During her speech Anne keeps glaring at Lil with a look of disgust. Anne takes
the stage again to go back to the her child hood with Lil and speaks in broken
Spanish, which her and Lil took together in high school. The speech scene ends
with a off tune singing of a song which neither of the girls end willingly.
This
fight presents the conflict that goes on for the majority of the film. Anne and
her childhood with Lil vs. Helen with her adult friendship and money.
