After the Wedding

Sidse Babett Knudsen and Mads Mikkelsen in "Efter brylluppet."
‘After the Wedding’ is a complex story
Video Viper with BOB LEBZELTER for March 6, 2009

Jacob Pederson appears to be a Mother Teresa sort in the film “Efter Brylluppet” (“After the Wedding”).

Pederson, played by Mads Mikkelsen, lives and works in poverty in Mumbai (Bombay), India. There he assists in running the Anand Orphanage.

Some of the children become prostitutes. They go hungry. Without Pederson’s work, more would be destitute.

He brings meals to the street children. He is a father figure to many. He even adopts one of the children.

But his orphanage is nearing bankruptcy. He needs help.

A wealthy Danish citizen, Jorgen (Rolf Lassgard), is looking for a charity to give money to, and Pederson is invited to give his pitch. Pederson flies to Denmark and stays in a posh apartment.

Pederson pitches his orphanage. Jorgen seems indifferent to the orphanage’s plight but invites Pederson to crash his daughter’s wedding. Pederson needs the cash and figures he will get a better chance of obtaining the money by attending the wedding.

Talk about a coincidence. The girl’s mother just happens to be his old flame, Helene (Sidse Babett Knudsen). Shock one.

Then when the bride, Anna (Stine Fischer Christensen), gives a little wedding tribute to her father, we get another shock. It’s a big shock. I won’t spoil it by telling you.

It’s a life-saving shock for Pederson, who eventually is offered the money but with the stipulation he stay in Denmark to handle the money.

But Pederson promised his young son that he would return for the boy’s birthday.

Yes, this guy’s goal of helping young orphans is complicated. But it gets worse.

This is a full-fledged story. In too many other films, plots appear underwritten, thin and predictable. But not in “After the Wedding.” The characters are also three-dimensional and complex.

The rich Jorgen comes off initially as an unfeeling jerk, but we later learn how noble and unselfish he can be.

And Pederson isn’t as Mother Teresa-ish as we at first believe.

Then there’s the new bride, who is so happy at the wedding but turns morose later.

Give credit to the actors but also director-writer Susanne Bier and writer Anders Thomas.

It’s a drama, it’s a soap opera, it’s an adventure; but most of all, it is a romance.

It works at so many levels. “After the Wedding” is worth seeking out.

‘EFTER BRYLLUPPET’ (‘After the Wedding’)

Director: Susanne Bier

Writers: Anders Thomas Jensen (screenplay) and Bier (story)

Runtime: 120 minutes

Rated “R” for some language and sexuality

Filmed in Danish, Swedish, Hindi and English, with subtitles

3 1/2 stars out of 5.