After the Wedding

Reviewed by: Ron Henriques - 03.30.07

“After the Wedding” star Mads Mikkelsen is probably familiar to American audiences for his role as the villainous Le Chiffre in “Casino Royale”. Already a star in Denmark, his latest feature arrives in the U.S. a year late, but may possibly elevate him to lead actor status in Hollywood. Mikkelsen portrays the director of an orphanage in India who has devoted his life to his young charges after fleeing his native Demark years earlier. The orphanage is in danger of closing and its only hope may lie with a donation from a rich benefactor in Denmark. The benefactor only requests that Mikkelsen meet him in person, but he refuses, having no desire to return to the hipocrisy of his homeland. With the looming threat of his orphans being forced to live on the streets as child prostitutes or worse, he agrees to fly home and present his case to the rich big-shot.

Self-made billionaire Rolf Lassard greets Mikkelsen with a warm reception, yet he is a busy man and has little time to hear his case about the poorly funded orphanage. He suggests they talk more about it over the weekend and invites Mikkelsen to his estate for the wedding of his daughter. It is there that Mikkelsen discovers that Lassard’s wife is his long lost love (Sidse Babett Knudsen) who was the very reason he fled Denmark twenty years ago. Though their reunion is friendly and civil, Mikkelsen ponders whether it’s all a coincidence or a sick joke engineered by Lassard. During the toast to the bride and groom, Lassard’s daughter (Stine Fischer Christiansen) publicly acknowledges that she accepts him as her father despite the fact that biologically he’s not. HOLD ON! If the bride is not Lassard’s real daughter and her age is equivalent to the years that Mikkelsen has been away from Denmark is it possible that she’s…?

Paternity isnt the only secret spilled in Susanne Bier’s “After the Wedding”, as Mikkelsen embarks on an emotional journey that opens old wounds, sheds light on true feelings and reveals the motives of everyone involved. While contending with the discovery of a daughter he never knew existed, Mikkelsen occasionally flashes back to the orphans he left behind, especially one in particular whom he promised he would return to by his birthday. Bier who also directed “Open Hearts” and “Brothers” let’s go of her familiar Dogme-style approach and just tells a romantic and emotionally involving story. Knudsen, a strikingly beautiful actress barely forty, is believable as the mother of a twenty-year old girl who concealed truths only to protect her daughter from the irresponsible young man Mikkelsen once was. She convincingly projects bitterness for his past behavior, while Lassard tries to be sympathetic and even works to bring Mikkelsen in as a part of the family. His intentions and goodwill towards Mikkelsen initially appear as if he’s trying to buy the man off, but he carries the deepest and most emotional secret of all. There’s also fine work from Christiansen as the 20-year-old bride who flares in anger toward her mother for cutting her real father out of her life. As she tries to connect with Mikkelsen over drinks and dinner they attempt to catch up on twenty-years of her life through a small photo album. Rather than seek out Lassard or her mother when her fresh marriage reaches a crisis of infidelity, she reaches out to Mikkelsen even though she barely knows him.

At the center of this wonderful dramatic feature is Mikkelsens’s performance, which is a far cry from the shady and sinister characters he’s known for. He’s a man torn between his responsibility to the orphans he cares for and the new family he’s been whisked into during an emotional crisis. His performance is emotional – not the type filled with ferocity, but rather subtlety. It’s amazing to see the thought process inside his eyes as he tries to figure out how to do the right thing.