After the Wedding

After the Wedding was nominated for a foreign language Oscar this past year. And it is easy to see why - it is an outstanding film (it was a very good year for foreign films because some great films did not get nominated). Director Suzanne Bier does an amazing and sensitive job of capturing the emotional lives of the four people who make up the bulk of this story. She and her screenwriting partner Anders Thomas Jensen have written a highly intelligent piece of work.

Jacob (Mads Mikkelsen) helps run an orphanage in Bombay. He seems to be quite the idealist. One day he is told that there is a chance for a very big donation from a very wealthy businessman. The catch is that Jacob has to travel to his native Denmark to meet him. Jacob is quite resistant to the idea because he hasn't set foot in Denmark for quite some time. He also questions the motives of rich people who give huge donations to charity - he wonders if they really give from the heart or is it something that makes them look good in the eyes of others. But he also knows that the orphanage is in danger of closing down if he doesn't meet with this man.

At first Jacob's meeting with Jorgen (Rolf Lassgard) seems routine. But things get interesting when Jorgen invites Jacob to his daughter Anna's (Stine Fischer Christensen) wedding to Christian (Christian Tafdrup), a young man who works for him. Jacob doesn't want to go but he doesn't have any excuse not to. At the wedding he meets Anna as well as Jorgen's wife Helene (Sidse Babett Knudsen). And that my dear friends is all I will tell you about the plot. To say anything more would be giving away too much. Oh, I will say that Jorgen and Helene have a very fancy house but there are some very repulsive things about it.

I loved the way Bier shot the closeups of her characters. They didn't even have to see a word - you know exactly what they are feeling. Mikkelsen, Lassgard, Babett and Christensen are terrific in their roles. You might recognize Mikkelsen from Casino Royale but this film gives him much more of a chance to shine (and to look good - he and Viggo Mortensen should be cast as brothers in a future film). The film is about two hours long and I didn't want it to end (and I spoke to two other people afterwards who felt the same way).

Bier is definitely a filmmaker to watch. Her previous film Brothers, with Connie Nielsen, is very good. I just moved up her film Open Hearts on my Netflix list. And later in the year her English language debut, Things We Lost in the Fire starring Halle Berry and Benicio del Toro (perhaps a comeback for Barry), will be released. I look forward to seeing what Ms. Bier will do in the future. In the meantime, do yourself a favor and see this film. You won't be sorry that you did.