Returning home from a jog to find her fiancé has suddenly and unexpectedly died days before their wedding, London woman Gemma (Bea) decides to marry him anyway, alienating her friends and family but winning enthusiastic support from his sister Audrey (Lourd).

It’s a spectacularly grim start to a movie, which it immediately undercuts with lengthy sequences of gross-out and cringe humour — very familiar territory for fans of Irish comedy gem Bea. It takes some time for this awkward juxtaposition to really find its feet; some of the early gags feel clumsy or too drawn-out, but they begin to land as we become more familiar with the characters.

The unstoppable force of Gemma’s love for Nathan (Colin Hanks) soon meets the immovable object of the English courts, where sentimentality is seemingly in short supply. But armed with the knowledge that the French allow it — and having found a dubious English precedent (did the writers rely on ChatGPT for legal research?) — Gemma defiantly presses on.

What is remarkably and conspicuously absent from this legal crusade are any lawyers. Gemma repeatedly personally accosts the Lady Chief Justice of England and Wales, first at a legal conference and again in her office, while Audrey pickets the Royal Courts of Justice in a political campaign that makes international headlines and quickly trends on social media.

All the while, we learn more about Gemma’s relationship with Nathan through both flashbacks and her rather narratively unnecessary hallucinations. (The biggest takeaway from many of these vignettes, unfortunately, is that Bea and Hanks have zero on-screen chemistry whatsoever.)

Despite its occasional clunkiness, and a wholly unrewarding side plot with Susan Wokoma and Doctor Who’s Arthur Darvill, And Mrs does find a way of expertly tugging at the heartstrings. There are plenty of laughs and tears before the film’s poignant conclusion, which invites viewers to reflect on grief, love and the enduring bonds between the living and the dead.

If you’re not too busy drying your eyes as the credits roll, you might even find yourself wondering: if it’s good enough for France, why not here?

And Mrs is streaming on Apple TV+ in the UK and Ireland from 2 September 2024.