Noce en goguette

"Fun After the Wedding" is a pretty bad film unless you understand the context. Sure, the plot is pretty vague and the film relies way too much on cheap pratfalls--but in 1906 ALL comedies were like this! In fact, it might even be a bit better than the average comedy.

This film consists of various clips of the bride and groom and guests cavorting about in some park. Each segment seems to end with some slapstick--such as a guy crashing on the table and breaking it, everyone falling off their bicycles or the like. It's not exactly cerebral and lacks a real coherent narrative and it's easy to get bored by it. BUT, for a 1906 film it's actually quite long and has decent production values. If you love early silents, by all means give this one a try.

And so is this early French slapstick comedy about a wedding reception. The entire company troops out of the church in a Grand March and head off to a local park or forest where they hold a picnic, that becomes more and more bizarre, as the bride demonstrates her happiness by doing handstands and dangling from the acrobat's rings and finally, falling out of a boat and into the water, accompanied by all her guests.

It seems an odd sort of party to throw after a wedding, even if I've attended a couple where people fell into the pool following too much champagne. Quite clearly the fact that it is a wedding reception has no bearing on the course of events, which is to have people do funny, bizarre things. Still, if you're waiting for a point to any of it, or any sort of conclusion, you'll be disappointed.