 Local opening date: 5/4/2007
Reviewed by Diane Carson
In lesser hands and with weaker actors, the Danish film After the Wedding would resemble a melodramatic soap opera. Instead it is emotionally poignant and intellectually tantalizing in the hands of director Susanne Bier and writer Anders Thomas Jensen. It also boasts sterling, heartfelt performances by lauded stage and screen Swedish actor Rolf Lassgard and the Danish Mads Mikkelsen, known in the U.S. as the villain Le Chiffre in the latest James Bond Casino Royale.
After the Wedding begins with cross-cutting between Jacob who devotes himself to the orphanage he runs in Bombay and Jorgen, a wealthy entrepreneur in Copenhagen. Jacob and Jorgen are as temperamentally different as their lifestyles, but After the Wedding will revolve around their intersection. For Jorgen decides to donate a huge sum to Jacob's work BUT Jacob must come to Copenhagen for a face-to-face interview. Desperately needing the funds, Jacob reluctantly obliges, arriving the weekend of Jorgen's daughter's wedding. He will attend that ceremony with unexpected revelations and reverberations propelling the story from then on.
Director Bier has written that After the Wedding is "about secrets. About how you live close together, love each other . . . and keep deep and important truths hidden from the people you love without really feeling any shame." Bier's comment reveals the heart of this multilayered, complex film that raises profound ethical questions. The periodic inclusion of nature as a metaphor for the human condition provides time and cause for reflection. Frequent use of hand-held shots thrusts the viewer into events and numerous close-ups of eyes and hands further encourage identification. After the Wedding was Denmark's nominee this year for A Best Foreign Film Oscar and it has won and been nominated for many awards. It is not only an enjoyable experience but also a thought-provoking one. Primarily in Danish with some Swedish and Hindi and with English subtitles. At Landmark's Plaza Frontenac cinema.
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