After the Wedding

Granted, Freundlich has the benefit of Bier’s screenplay contributions to guide him, but in his particular execution, the story feels grounded for a very different strategy from Bier’s: Rather than going out of his way to include recognizable human moments, he strips away anything excessive, allowing subtext to surface in the quiet spaces between dialogue.

It’s a movie about hidden family secrets, with a comical amount of twists, and it plays more as melodramatic schlock. And I just happened to really be in the mood for melodramatic schlock.

This story of motherhood and moral conundrums, of privilege and philanthropy and “worthy causes” is one whose dramatic twists and soapy reveals feel at odds with the cultivated tone of serious, muted elegance.

The cast is made up of some of the finest and most interesting actors working in film today. And for the most part they’re doing thoughtful work. Unfortunately, there’s only so much they can do. The film doesn’t go emotionally deep enough to pay off.

This is Williams’ spotlight, and it’s worth slogging through some of the soapier-to-sludgier aspects to watch her ply her craft

None of the characters has a true home. Comedies end with weddings, with order replacing chaos, but After the Wedding is not a comedy and weddings don’t fool anyone.

The mystery has been dialled down, the treacle dialled up, and what we are left with is basically Eat Pray Love 2.

"After the Wedding" is a remake of the 2006 acclaimed Danish film of the same name written by Susanne Bier. This new version, with an adapted screenplay by Bart Freundlich, who also directed the film, stars Mr. Freundlich's wife, Julianne Moore, and Michelle Williams, Billy Crudup and Abby Quinn. Remembering the old adage, "if it ain't broken, don't fix it", I found the film to be interesting and, in the case of Ms. Moore, extremely well acted, but that's where the accolades end. Although only 110 minutes in length, it seemed longer. Also, Ms. Williams' performance was under stated and so low key that it looked like she "phoned it in" for it lacked the emotional dedication that one would expect from someone playing her character. I give the film a 7 with a suggestion to Mr. and Mrs. Freundlich that it's sometimes better for an artist to create an entirely new work of art than to try and touch-up an old painting.

In this case, we get a cast (most notably Julianne Moore), who are capable of so much more than what has been written for them in this otherwise subpar, lackluster production.

The cast prevents this from becoming a disaster but fails to prevent it from being a tremendously forgettable experience. If you have no interest, you can stay with original film.

A lot of “acting” went on in this film, but it never came to much. All the actors were far more than competent, so why didn’t I care about what happened? And a lot of things simply did not fit and were very distracting – like how did Michelle Williams manage to keep her perfectly coiffed (and insanely expensive) hairdo while running a poverty-stricken orphanage in India???? Never a hair out of place. The script was workmanlike, as was the direction, but all the wonderful actors in this film kept me constantly hungry for more – hungry for things like real emotion and gripping drama. Sadly, this made the movie a huge disappointment.