Depois do Casamento

"After the Wedding" (2006) begins on the streets of Mumbai, India, where several orphaned, homeless children are queuing up for food, courtesy 'Anand Orphanage and School', assisted by Jacob (Mads Mikkelsen) who has taken up the cause. He teaches in the school attached to the orphanage, and is a favorite with the children there. The initial scenes make one wonder if this is yet another 'poverty porn' focusing only on the dirty underbelly of India and projecting it to be a country worse than it actually is (Think "Slumdog Millionaire"). But any negativity formed in the beginning is quickly quashed with what follows.

The orphanage is clearly falling short of funds. A silver lining is seen, as some tycoon in Denmark, by the name of Jorgen Hansson (Rolf Lassgård), has agreed to offer a huge sum of money as donation to the orphanage, but only on the condition that Jacob travel to Denmark personally, meet with Jorgen and then return with the necessary funds and paperwork. This tiny detail offered in the beginning, highlights the whimsical nature of the wealthy businessman's offer, and immediately hints at a catch, so we begin to brace ourselves for an early twist. Any surprise quotient, then, is automatically reduced to half.

Jacob travels to Denmark, leaving behind his shanty life, albeit promising one of the orphan boys, Pramod (Neeral Mulchandani), who he has brought up and loves like his son, that he would be back in a week. Once in Denmark, Jacob is given red carpet treatment; a personal airport pickup, a luxury suite in a posh hotel, and later a meeting with the man himself; who takes a look at the project put together by Jacob (a videotape detailing the activities of the orphanage), but seems to be more interested in having a drink with him. Jorgen turns off the tape halfway, leaving Jacob stumped and disappointed, but proceeds to invite Jacob to the upcoming wedding of his daughter Anna (Stine Fischer Christensen). The unsuspecting Jacob accepts the invitation and shows up at Jorgen's plush mansion, the venue of the wedding.

But a series of startling discoveries at the wedding and after it, make this visit to Denmark, a life-changing experience for Jacob…..

Writer-Director Susanne Bier's screenplay shows great promise, at least in the first half, thanks to the periodic revelations. Some dark secrets are revealed at regular intervals, and thus the pace is well maintained 'til then, although the film revolves only around four major characters. There are great moments of power-packed drama, sometimes intense, sometimes warm, sometimes awkward; mostly the uncomfortable encounters between characters are very naturally captured; it couldn't get more real than that. The director knows exactly how the characters would emote under the circumstances, and thanks to the terrific actors, it's all well done and earnestly acted. The cinematography is somewhat grainy, mostly devoid of the usage of special lighting, and is shot on a hand-held camera, reminiscent of the style of the Dogme 95 movement first initiated by Lars Von Trier. It is no surprise that the filming of the entire wedding sequence very much reminds of that in Von Trier's "Breaking the Waves".

It is the extreme close-ups of eyes, lips, hands, and even some facial hair that come across as an eyesore. There are way too many close-ups that just weren't required and suit neither the genre, nor the subject matter. In fact they take away from the scenes somewhat, by not showing us the visage of the actor during a scene, when his/her reaction or emotion is vital to the scene. It is in the latter half, that the drama begins to shed the subtlety, when the most important twist of the story is revealed, and the film dips into mawkish melodrama giving rise to histrionics and gawky over-sentimentality! The major twist is itself a cliché and a bankable ingredient for a weepy soap opera. But there are other events that follow, and at such timings, that you can't help but think that the screenplay is taking an emotionally manipulative direction, by forcing some events that just weren't necessary, but used merely because they, somehow, serve as good excuses to make the proceedings sappier!

That said, it is indeed noteworthy, how almost all the characters are very well written; they have a lot of depth and more importantly, the initial impression that is created about them, takes a drastic turn in some key events, and we are forced to see them in a different light. Of course, the convincing dynamics of the characters, are owing to the choice of actors that are immensely talented. Mads Mikkelsen brings a range of emotions to the otherwise stoic Jacob who is taken aback when he first learns of the shattering truth that hits like a bolt of lightning. Ditto for the mixed emotions and the inevitable awkwardness he displays, later, in one of the best directed scenes of the film. Rolf Lassgård is brilliant as the drunk, but loving father and business tycoon, whose real intentions, and hence the kind of person he is, becomes clear only later. Stine Fischer Christensen is cute and does a commendable job as the daughter Anna who gets a double whammy of deceit. And then we have Sidse Babett Knudsen as Helene, who finds herself in an extraordinary situation, by a twist of fate, following a seemingly strange coincidence, and a past that refuses to let go. It is a classy performance indeed.

What "After the Wedding" needed was a steady grip and restrained tone, that it maintains in the first half of the film, despite the plot contrivances, after which it nosedives into unnecessary melodrama and starts to come undone. Too bad, really!

Score: 7/10

If you are looking for a movie that confirms preconceived notions, don't go to this one. Rather than trotting out a character as a rooting interest in the second or third scene, the film presents four individuals who are definitely worthy of your interest and compassion.

The two men in this drama, Jacob and Jorgen, are each powerful in their own ways. Jacob in the power of his convictions, Jorgen in the power of money and commerce. The two women, Helene and Anne, and the decisions they make, are the characters that move the story and set up the very real personal tragedies that ultimately unfold. Rather than a recanting of the general plot, my recommendation is to go into this movie as cold as you can. There are twists to be resolved and lives to learn about -- they are not aided by hearing about them beforehand.

There are no special effects, no flashbacks, no grainy images, and resolution is provided without the use of gun-play. (When was the last time you saw a movie that didn't have a gun figuring in the outcome.) Like real life, it takes a while to learn who the characters are and confirm that first impressions may (or may not) be correct. The pacing of the movie seems to be a primary criticism on the message boards but it seemed to move at a breakneck pace to me. I was very sorry to see it end.

This is a human drama that the "old" Hollywood once made by the boatload. Highly recommended.

This is one of the best movies I've seen in a long while. I am lucky that I was able to see it at a screening, and I will certainly look out for other movies from the director and writer.

It starts off low key and you're not sure where it is going to go. Then things get very intense dramatically. In a lesser movie this would be near the end, but in this movie it is just the beginning. At times it gets emotional with very excellent acting. The plot keeps changing in unpredictable ways, and who the plot is revolving around keeps changing also. Really well designed story and well directed production.

Apparently it is on the verge of release in the US. The version I saw in a US screening was subtitled (one of the forum posters asked if it would be dubbed).

As may be expected of Susanne Bier, and as may be expected of Scandinavian films in general if you ask me, this film is really great. The acting is so good it's hard to call it acting. Mads Mikkelsen (Jacob) puts up a terrific performance with acting that is as credible as it is subtle. Not the over-the-top stuff that we are familiar with from Hollywood, but acting that actually makes you think "yes, this is how real flesh and blood people would react". I was also pleasantly surprised by Sidse Babett Knudsen (Helene). She has a lot of scenes with little or no dialog, but the way she tells everything with subtle face expression is simply mind blowing. And let's not forget Rolf Lassgård (Jörgen) and Stine Fisher Christensen (Anne), who both remind us what real flesh and blood emotions look like in a way that really hits you in the face.

Anyway, I'm a fan of Scandinavian films for reasons mentioned above, and I'm almost ashamed to say that in that light this film was really nothing new, and luckily so: just more of the same wonderful stuff! What really stuck with me about this film however is the story. It is so ...human in all aspects. I won't reveal any spoilers, but as the story unfolds, it just gets so much more complex than you expect at first. In the first 15 minutes, I expected the movie was mainly going to be about the struggle between Jörgen and Jacob. The struggle between these two "stereotypes" really... one being the cool business man who solves everything with money, and the other being the idealistic but clumsy social worker. I was pleasantly surprised however that it got even better after that. What I mainly like about the movie, is that it doesn't offer any simple solutions. In the end, there are no perfect happy endings that solve every puzzle; the main characters have to make decisions, but it's not all black and white like we see in a lot of other movies. People have to do things they might not have done initially, but in the end, there may be upsides as well. You know... that sounds an awful lot like real life, and that's a good thing for a film if you ask me.

Sometimes some films go unnoticed. Either because they come from countries we don't exactly positioned on the world map, or because those gems are directed by none mainstream directors, or maybe because those films don't have a wide distribution and sometimes because the title or the story's pitch is not that engaging… "After the Wedding" might has gone unnoticed for all these bad reasons so let's first clear them up.

Denmark is in northern Europe, capital Copenhagen. This country gave us the 1987 Oscar winning "Babette's Feast" by Gabriel Axel and the 1988 Oscar winner, "Pelle the Conqueror" by Bille August. As per Susanne Bier who directed "After the Wedding" if she is not a mainstream director she also is not exactly a junior director. In fact she already directed a dozen of films, all emotionally engaging like Brødre (2004) aka Brothers or Sekten (1997) aka Credo.

In the city I was leaving in at that time only 2 or 3 cinemas were showing "After the Wedding". And quite frankly when I first red the synopsis I thought the movie would likely be a bore fest: a manager of an orphanage (Mikkelsen) in India is sent to Copenhagen, Denmark in order to discuss sponsoring with a billionaire (Lassgård) but what he discovers is a life-altering family secret. Fortunately my better half convinced me to go see this complete cinematic experience in which the depth of the characters, the originality of the scenario, and the outstanding acting concur to make this film one of the greatest films of 2006/07 and a true emotional experience.

The strength of "After the Wedding" resides in its dynamic based on our faculty to extrapolate and judge promptly. Indeed the film first 20 minutes builds stereotypes only for us to pull them down in the last hour and a half…terrific…

Do you know what realistic acting is? Well after witnessing Mads Mikkelsen and Rolf Lassgård answering, analyzing each other you'll understand what true acting is. The kind that feels so real you think you are witnessing stolen slice of life on screen. If those two actors really epitomized great performance, Sidse Babett Knudsen as Helene and Stine Fischer Christensen as Anna deserve a mention.

But a well directed well played film does not necessary triggers emotions. "After the Wedding" does. The film moves you in a way few films do. We don't identify but we relate and as the gap between the protagonists shrinks, the distance between the audience and the characters fades away. Profoundly "humanist" the film proposes another definition for the word "Gift"…The gift of oneself, the ultimate Love. Susanne Bier succeeds in triggering this Generosity not only on the screen but also in our soul.