After the Wedding

Susanne Bier's After the Wedding was nominated for the Academy Awards for Best Foreign Film in 2006, and is excellent.

It tells the story of a Dane in India, Jacob (excellently played by Mads Mikkelsen), who reluctantly returns to his homeland after twenty years. He returns to meet with a mysterious man who offers to provide funds for a orphanage Jacob runs in India. When explaining to Pramod (his adopted son-of-sorts) that he must leave, the precocious eight year old asks about the wealth of people in Denmark and finally concludes, "If I was rich, I'd be happy."

After the wedding - scene The funds of the orphanage are running low, and Jorgen (Rolf Lassgård) - a wealthy benefactor - promises to donate millions of dollars to the orphanage. But there's a catch. Jacob must collect the funds himself in Copenhagen, and attend the wedding of the eccentric millionaire's daughter.

But once Jacob meets the benefactor's wife Helene (played by a radiant Sidse Babett Knudsen), it's obvious to the viewer that the two have a complicated history. It’s also likely that her daughter Anna (Stine Fischer Christensen) most probably is theirs. So why did Jorgen invite Jacob to Anna's wedding? Does he know Jacob is Anna's father? Is something nefarious in the works?

The story is well-told, and the dialogues full of dry humor. The characters are intriguing and diverse. It is beautifully filmed. This entertaining and thought-provoking and to some extent unsettling movie is great, and Susanne Bier does an excellent job. Mikkelsen is particularly good, whether he's channeling his anger at having been shut out of his maybe-daughter's life for the past 20 years, or having to grovel a bit to get Jorgen to donate the funds as promised to his orphanage. After the Wedding is a bitter-sweet story with memorable characters and interesting circumstances that I recommend!

Product Details (US version)

Actors: Mads Mikkelsen, Rolf Lassgård, Sidse Babett Knudsen, Stine Fischer Christensen, Christian Tafdrup
Director: Susanne Bier
Format: Closed-captioned, Color, DVD, Subtitled, Widescreen, NTSC
Language: Danish, English, Hindi, Swedish
Subtitles: English
Region: Region 1
Aspect Ratio: 1.66:1
Number of discs: 1
Rated: R (Restricted)
Studio: Ifc
DVD Release Date: July 10, 2007
Run Time: 120 minutes