After the Wedding | |
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Promotional poster for After the Wedding
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Directed by | Susanne Bier |
Produced by | Sisse Graum Olsen |
Written by | Susanne Bier Anders Thomas Jensen |
Starring |
Mads Mikkelsen Sidse Babett Knudsen |
Music by | Johan Söderqvist |
Cinematography | Morten Søborg |
Edited by | Pernille Bech Christensen Morten Højbjerg |
Distributed by |
Nordisk Film (DK) Soda Pictures (UK) IFC Films (US) |
Release date
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Denmark: 24 February 2006 United Kingdom: 9 March 2007 United States: 30 March 2007 |
Running time
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120 minutes |
Country | Denmark Sweden |
Language | |
Box office | $11.6 million |
After the Wedding (Danish: Efter brylluppet) is a 2006 Danish drama directed by Susanne Bier, starring Mads Mikkelsen and Sidse Babett Knudsen. The film was a critical and popular success and was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film, but lost out to The Lives of Others.
Jacob Petersen manages an Indian orphanage. With a small staff, he works as hard as he can to keep the orphanage afloat and is personally invested in the young charges - in particular, Pramod, a young boy Jacob has cared for since the boy's birth. The orphanage has been in danger of collapse for eight years and faces bankruptcy. A Danish corporation offers a substantial donation to maintain the orphanage, with the caveat that Jacob return to Denmark (where he grew up) to personally receive the funds. Apparently the CEO, Jørgen Hannson, wishes to meet Jacob.
Pramod is upset when he learns that Jacob must travel to Copenhagen, and is insistent that Jacob return for Pramod's birthday, which is in eight days. Jacob departs for Denmark; once there, he is greeted by a driver and a young man named Christian; he is checked into a luxurious suite paid for by the corporation.
When Jacob meets with Jørgen, the latter says he is still considering which project to fund. This surprises Jacob, who had understood that the decision was already made. Jørgen's daughter, Anna, is to marry Christian and Jørgen invites Jacob to the wedding. During the ceremony Jørgen's wife, Helene, notices Jacob. They are formally introduced during the reception, though both of them have recognized each other. She was the love of Jacob's life, but he was unfaithful with her best friend, and they broke up twenty years prior.
During Anna's speech at the marriage festivities, Jacob learns that she is not the biological daughter of Jørgen. His suspicion that she might be his daughter is confirmed by Helene the next day. Jacob is angry to have only learned of his daughter after two decades. Helene claims that they had tried to track him down in India but were unsuccessful. She is compelled to tell Anna of Jacob now; the two meet and get along well, if slightly awkwardly.