Netflix adds dark rom com which asks can you legally marry a dead person?

And Mrs stars Aisling Bea and Colin Hanks
(Image credit: Vertigo Releasing)

Netflix has added the rom-com And Mrs, starring Aisling Bea, which has at its heart the intriguing question can you marry a dead person?

The plot follows reluctant bride-to-be Gemma whose fiancé Nathan (Colin Hanks) suddenly drops down dead at their London home. Rather than simply mourning his loss, she takes the extraordinary decision to still marry him anyway. Obviously, she's faced with lots of people objecting, including her mum, and a battle with the law which sees her head to the courts. It boasts a great cast including Billie Lourd, Harriet Walter, Arthur Darvill, Peter Egan, Sinéad Cusack and Susan Wokoma.

Talking about making the movie on Lorraine recently, Aisling said she had a great time working with Colin Hanks, son of Tom Hanks. "He's the loveliest best person in the world."

She added: "My character goes on this journey to try and get married to a dead person, which is one way of avoiding divorce! And then his sister arrives for the wedding not realizing he's passed away and she's played by Billie Lourd who was incredible."

And Mrs court scene

(Image credit: Vertigo Releasing)

The movie seems to pitching itself at fans of Richard Curtis’s films with a tagline of "It's one wedding and a funeral," a clear nod to his hit Four Weddings and a Funeral (which made our Top 100 movies of all time list). Like Four Weddings, this is also a low-key movie and its summer cinema release might have easily passed you by. Unlike Four Weddings, it's so far not become a huge hit, but it will be hoping to win a much bigger audience now it has hit Netflix in the UK (US fans can rent it via various streaming sites including Prime Video).

And Mrs | Official Trailer | On Digital 2nd September - YouTube And Mrs | Official Trailer | On Digital 2nd September - YouTube
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And Mrs has enjoyed generally positive reviews, currently sitting at a 70 percent critic score on Rotten Tomatoes.

Now to the central question: can you marry a dead person? Well, in the movie, it's claimed you can because there's a law allowing people to marry dead partners set up so that women could marry soldiers who die on the battlefield.

We're not experts on this but we can't see any evidence this law applies in the UK, however, apparently, you can marry a dead person in France and a few other countries!

At just under two hours, And Mrs is a snappy movie and one that promises plenty of laughs. The Netflix Top 10 chart is currently dominated by horror movies as it's Halloween so And Mrs offers something a bit different.

And Mrs is on Netflix now.

David Hollingsworth
Editor

David is the What To Watch Editor and has over 20 years of experience in television journalism. He is currently writing about the latest television and film news for What To Watch.

Before working for What To Watch, David spent many years working for TV Times magazine, interviewing some of television's most famous stars including Hollywood actor Kiefer Sutherland, singer Lionel Richie and wildlife legend Sir David Attenborough. 

David started out as a writer for TV Times before becoming the title's deputy features editor and then features editor. During his time on TV Times, David also helped run the annual TV Times Awards. David is a huge Death in Paradise fan, although he's still failed to solve a case before the show's detective! He also loves James Bond and controversially thinks that Timothy Dalton was an excellent 007.

Other than watching and writing about telly, David loves playing cricket, going to the cinema, trying to improve his tennis and chasing about after his kids!