{"id":8671,"date":"2012-09-09T20:53:30","date_gmt":"2012-09-09T18:53:30","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/pinartarhan.com\/blog\/?p=8671"},"modified":"2012-09-11T20:13:11","modified_gmt":"2012-09-11T18:13:11","slug":"after-the-wedding-starring-mads-mikkelsen-2007-best-foreign-film-oscar-nominee","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pinartarhan.com\/blog\/after-the-wedding-starring-mads-mikkelsen-2007-best-foreign-film-oscar-nominee\/","title":{"rendered":"After the Wedding starring Mads Mikkelsen \u2013 2007 Best Foreign Film Oscar Nominee"},"content":{"rendered":"

After the Wedding starring Mads Mikkelsen \u2013 A 2007 Best Foreign Film Oscar Nominee <\/strong><\/p>\n

\"after<\/a>
After the Wedding poster via amazon.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Danish Jacob (Mads Mikkelsen<\/a>) has dedicated his life to the orphanage he is running in India, being a teacher\/provider\/friend. He is also doing his best to help the kids outside the orphanage.<\/p>\n

So he is unwilling to go to Denmark to meet a businessman interested in investing in the orphanage. But Jacob also knows that he has no choice: it is either he gets the money, or they shut down. So he says goodbye to the kids, including Paramod, who Jacob has taken care of since he was born. His plan is to show the reality of India, get the money and fly back in a couple of days.<\/p>\n

But the businessman J\u00f8rgen \u00a0(Rolf Lassg\u00e5rd) seems less than willing to give the money right away. Instead, he invites Jacob to the wedding of his daughter Anna (Stine Fischer Christensen). \u00a0It\u2019s at the wedding that Jacob realizes that the orphanage might not be why he\u2019s there: Helene (Sidse Babett Knudsen), his ex-girlfriend, is the bride\u2019s mother and it won\u2019t be the only shock he\u2019ll get during the event, or his stay.<\/p>\n

With a huge can of worms being opened, and J\u00f8rgen\u2019s weird demands in order to give the money, Jacob will be in a dilemma of a lifetime, and J\u00f8rgen\u2019s decisions will shake up his entire family. What the hell does he want? And why?<\/p>\n

*<\/p>\n

A Should-See: Like its characters, the film is flawed but highly gripping and impressive<\/strong><\/p>\n

After the Wedding (Efter brylluppet) is a gripping drama that successfully manipulates the audience\u2019s feelings, as well as their thoughts of the characters.\u00a0 J\u00f8rgen, Helene and Jacob are all multi-layered, grey characters who invoke a variety of feelings in a short amount of time.<\/p>\n

Jacob started out as my favorite character, for instance. How can he not? Here\u2019s a guy, away from home, working to run an orphanage. It\u2019s as selfless as it can get. He is so unwilling to leave the kids, who have become his family, behind.<\/p>\n

And J\u00f8rgen doesn\u2019t make an impressive start. We all know he is up to something, and it would have been highly unlikely that a man of his resources didn\u2019t know Jacob was Helene\u2019s Jacob. And what kind of a man brings an ex \u2013an ex that he suspects his wife isn\u2019t completely over \u2013 to their daughter\u2019s wedding?<\/p>\n

And Helene- well, watch the movie to see what she does\u2026<\/p>\n

But as the characters interact more, we realize that Jacob has a less than impressive past, Helene faced some challenging choices and J\u00f8rgen, albeit flawed, is a decent father and husband.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s quite a fulfilling experience to watch a film where you get to experience contempt and love, admiration and anger, empathy, sympathy and forgiveness for the same character \u2013not necessarily in that order.<\/p>\n

After the Wedding has a wonderfully humane story and a marvelous cast.\u00a0 That\u2019s not to say the movie doesn\u2019t have its flaws. The pace occasionally feels like it is slower than necessary, some characters add pretty much nothing to the story (OK-one character- the grandmother) and the frequent close-up of the actors\u2019 eyes can get a bit irritating-to the point where you feel like eyes to Susanne Bier (director) are what feet are to Quentin Tarantino. And while I definitely prefer an obsession about the eyes, the movie could have used less shots of them.<\/p>\n

But the forgivable flaws aside, I loved the movie, which was an Oscar nominee in 2007 for Best Foreign Language Film.<\/p>\n

Directed and co-written by Susanne Bier, this 2006 gem is rated at 7.8 on IMDB. I\u2019m rating it an 8.<\/p>\n

You should give it a chance. Just like all movies, this movie has its share of discontent viewers, but stopping the experience is only a button away. So just start watching it. You might love it.<\/p>\n