‘After the Wedding‘ (2006) is, I think, the first film by Danish director Susanne Bier that I have the opportunity to see. He recommends not only the rather high rating he receives on IMDB but also the fact that the screenplay is written by Anders Thomas Jensen, screenwriter and director himself of some very interesting films I’ve seen lately, and especially since one of the main roles is played by Mads Mikkelsen, one of those actors who never seems to make a mistake in choosing his roles and who raises the level of any film in which he is acting. For the most part, ‘After the Wedding‘ lived up to my expectations. It is a combination of melodrama and social criticism film, an emotional human story filmed with artistic means inspired by the Dogma movement (but without abiding … dogmatically by the rules), with an extra touch of Bollywood. Mads did not disappoint me, but the weak point of the film seemed, surprisingly, in the script.
‘After the Wedding‘ begins and ends in India, but most of the story takes place in Denmark. The film’s hero, Jacob Pederson, runs an orphanage in a large Indian city. His life is dedicated to this philanthropic activity and to the children he cares for. When he is obliged to travel to Denmark to ensure continued funding, he does so without enthusiasm. But life has a big surprise in store for him. The wife of the rich man on whose support everything depends is his younger days sweetheart. Moreover, when invited to the wedding of the daughter of the rich family, he discovers that he is … the father of the bride. We are dealing with a story of forgotten love, with a clash between the classes of the rich donors and of those who need their help, but also with a confrontation of characters. The rich Jorgen has plans and conditions and will put Jacob in difficult dilemmas.
I liked the style of filming with the use of the hand-held camera, always having the heroes with their feelings in the center of the frame. Scandinavian morality, which is very evident in many of the films made in this part of the world, is approached here in an original way, which rejects the Manichaean patterns of class differences. Jacob is played by Mads Mikkelsen and the combination of principles and errors, steep sincerity and social clumsiness that characterizes the character is very well captured by this wonderful actor. Rolf Lassgård nuances the difficult role of the rich Jörgen Hansson. Sidse Babett Knudsen, an actress I do not remember having seen before, manages to shed light on the character of the woman in the lives of the two men. The script sometimes fails to avoid tones of soap opera, thus wonderful scenes alternate with cliché dialogs and situations. However, the surprising turn that the story takes at one point is well justified. I understand that in 2019 a remake was made after this movie. I did not see it, but I read that, as in many other cases, the American version fails to reach the emotional intensity of the European original. This does not surprise me. Despite its shortcomings, ‘After the Wedding‘ is a film with many qualities, honestly and well done. It’s hard to believe that Hollywood can beat it.