Product: After The Wedding (Despues De La Boda) [NTSC/REGION 1 & 4 DVD. Import-Latin America] (2006)
Rating: 3.0
Typical Susanne Bier
The infamous Danish director Susanne Bier has established herself as the so-called queen of piercing relationship melodramas (bordering on soap-operas), filmed in a style reminiscent of Dogme (natural lights, handheld DV cameras), only with a script and a soundtrack. Her "Open Hearts" dealt with the consequences of physical paralysis, and what that does to a blossoming relationship. "Brothers" told a story of two, um, brothers, one of them back from torn Afghanistan, competing for the affection of a beautiful woman (Connie Nielsen).Bier's poignancy, the immediacy that carry her films, and the truthful dialogue that resonates have, so far, overshadowed her over-reliance on close-ups of the protagonists' eyes, insistent sentimentality, and a pessimistic tone that can frankly be a major downer. Bier's US feature debut, "Things We Lost in the Fire", got criticized for an overexuberance of those latter qualities. Though "After the Wedding" is a stark and powerful drama, it also suffers from an unremittingly dismal tone. It seems as if Bier, instead of infusing her films with a much-needed sense of humor and love for life, has delved even deeper into the sadness and wretchedness that people can inflict upon each other.Jacob (Mads Mikkelsen) works in an orphanage in India. It faces closure due to financial issues, so he goes back to Danemark to ask for a grant from multi-millionaire Jorgen (Rolf Lassgard). Jorgen immediately begins to play mind games with Jacob, telling him he will "consider" him as one of the main contenders for the million-dollar grant, but needs a few days to think it over. Since Jacob has nothing to do, Jorgen invites him to his daughter's wedding. Jacob arrives, suspecting nothing. And then he recognizes Jorgen's wife...From this point on, the film goes into plot complications that I will not divulge. I will say one thing - it's all downhill. As lies are unmasked, and old secrets surface, things only get worse.Granted, "After the Wedding" is a class act. It's assured, mature filmmaking, with a clear sense of purpose. The acting is beautiful throughout - it really is hard to pinpoint a stand-out, everyone's so good - as is the script, the film's deliberately slowly unfolding plot gradually revealing its many mysteries. But the film is also claustrophobically depressing, with barely any humor relief from all the drama. There's even a clumsily added (seemingly last-minute) sub-plot involving the daughter and her new husband's infidelity, which seems wholly unnecessary, apart from adding even more weight to an already weighty drama.As for the film's Dogme-like style, its pretentiousness distracts from the plot in some crucial spots as much as it entices you to watch in others. I'm a big fan of Dogme films, but here, after the 100th aforementioned lingering close-up of someone's eyes, artistry is toying with self-parody, and that's not a good thing for a film in which the inter-weaving of style has to be seamless.So, while better written, directed and acted than the majority of Hollywood dramas, "After the Wedding" will not appeal to those who try to avoid depression-trip movies. In typical Bier fashion, it raises a lot of questions of love, death, the choices that we make and their consequences, and only provides answers to some, while leaving the rest for our deliberation. Maybe it's time for the director to attempt a new approach; she can remain an auteur but try a different genre, for example. As it is, "After the Wedding" is competent: powerful but unoriginal.And depressing. Boy, is it depressing.