After The Wedding film review

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AFTER THE WEDDING

Suzanne Bier's latest drama is this year's Danish contender for the Foreign Language Oscar, although it's hard to see exactly what Academy voters saw in this gloomy and drawn-out affair. The presence of James Bond villain Mads Mikkelsen is its main saving grace.

Mikkelsen plays Jacob, the manager of a mission for orphaned children in India. When he receives an offer of sponsorship from a Danish businessman, he returns to Copenhagen to meet an ebullient multi-millionaire called Rolf who assures him that his word is his bond. All Jacob has to do is attend the wedding of Rolf's step-daughter before he goes back to Madras with a caseful of rupees.

Jacob agrees, but at the wedding is shocked to discover that he knows not only Rolf's wife, but also her daughter from the time before he found charity. Further discoveries are made and secrets are revealed, throwing into question Rolf's motives behind his generous offer.

Any Danish film set around a wedding brings to mind Thomas Vinterberg's stunning Festen, and it's not only by this comparison that Bier's effort disappoints. It's a solemn and soporific affair which offers the viewer little to cling onto, and is full of melodramatic moments which often turn into a grand soap opera. Like Bier's last effort, 2004's Brothers, it fails to convince, but seems very sure that it is saying something important.

Mikkelsen is the draw however and shows that he can really act, giving a charismatic performance a million miles away from his Chiffre in Casino Royale. He is aided by a stalwart gang of Danish veterans but despite their best efforts this project would have been better off being left at the aisle.

Paul Hurley