LuminoMagazine.com - A treat awaits in "After the Wedding"

A treat awaits in "After the Wedding"

Written by COREY LAMBERT

Friday, 20 April 2007

Occasionally, buried beneath a “Spiderman” or a “Pirates of the Caribbean,” a small film with a small budget leaks through enough cracks to get noticed. The films that manage this feat usually do so on the shoulders of a big-name cast (“Little Miss Sunshine”) or a novel stylistic choice (“Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon”), while the others tend to disappear after fifteen minutes of fame at Sundance and Cannes. But this weekend, lacking both American star power and innovative effects, “After the Wedding” transcends the indie world and lands at a theatre near you.

“After the Wedding”

Entertainment

Art

Directed by Susanne Bier
Written by Susanne Bier and Anders Thomas Jensen
Starring Mads Mikkelsen, Rolf Lassgârd, Sidse Babett Knudsen, and Stine Fischer Christensen
Rated R for Language and Sexual Situations
Released April 20, 2007

“After the Wedding” begins in India where Jacob (Mads Mikkelsen) manages an over-crowded, under-financed orphanage. With nowhere to turn for monetary aid, Jacob flies to Denmark to ask Jorgen (Rolf Lassgard), a well-to-do benefactor, for a contribution. Jorgen agrees to consider contributing to Jacob’s cause, but refuses to make a final decision until after his daughter’s wedding, an event which Jorgen insists Jacob attend.

Despite his initial refusal, Jacob attends the wedding and discovers that Helene (Sidse Babett Knudsen), the mother of the bride, is his ex-lover. When the bride (Stine Fischer Christensen) toasts Jorgen, thanking him for standing in for her long-lost father, Jacob confronts Helene, unleashing a mess of intriguing secrets in his wake.

Shot on location in Denmark and India, “After the Wedding” is an aesthetically beautiful, thematically moving tale about secrets and intentions and the love necessary to keep them both under the rug. As the plot untwists and then twists again, “After the Wedding” teaches that family means more than blood, and that secrets aren’t always meant to hurt. In spite of the subtitles and documentary style camera work the film never gets tiring, continually laying cards on the table, but always managing to find that all-important ace at just the right moment.

The exceptional cast is led by Mikkelsen, who is flawless as the do-gooder with a past, so convincing throughout that one hardly need read the subtitles during his scenes as he possesses an uncanny ability to turn a phrase solely with his eyes. Lassgard is brilliant in the conflicted catalyst role, a part difficult to explain to anyone who has not seen the picture, but infinitely simplified by Lassgard on screen. Knudsen and Christensen also deliver compelling performances as the mother/daughter duo perched on opposites sides of a twisted secret.

“After the Wedding” is a brilliant, sincere, film that is undoubtedly deserving of its Academy Award nomination for Best Foreign Language Film of the Year. This is Susanne Bier’s greatest directorial success to date and a rare film that stays around long after the last popcorn kernel has been flossed away. It’s truly a gem, a rare small-budget film with a big-budget heart.

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