I'm no longer young. However, I still remember how Belgian working-class people used to marry when I was a child, some four to five decades ago. The bridegroom would invest in a good suit (and then wear it to christenings, funerals,... etc. until it grew shiny with age) ; the bride would invest in a nice dress (idem) ; the couple would go first to city hall and then to church ; and afterwards there would be a fine meal for relatives, neighbours and close friends. Numerous photographs would be taken, with everyone looking solemn-but-happy, and eventually the couple would leave on honeymoon, which usually translated as two weeks on the Belgian sea-side or in the Belgian Ardennes.
People lucky enough to fall into a higher income category could afford some luxuries. The honeymoon, for instance, became two or three weeks in France (saucy), Spain (exotic) or Italy (romantic). Often the bride wore a gown which screamed "wedding" to such an extent that it could be worn but once in the same lifetime ; later on, most of these gowns were lovingly preserved as an heirloom for a future daughter. Other brides would cut up their gowns in order to use the veils and laces for a baby's cot or, alternatively, for a christening dress.
Most of this was sensible and, if you think upon it, pretty sweet. Decades have passed and by now, the year 2018, all kinds of weird and costly extravagances have attached themselves to the matrimonial ship, like expensive barnacles. We now find ourselves in an era in which, say, the bride's parents may very well have to pay for a full-blown children's party complete with clowns, magicians and Chinese "lion" dancers, because you wouldn't like the kids to get bored, now would you ? An acquaintance of mine discovered that her daughter, the bride, was being escorted by flower-toting children dressed as Puss-in-boots, Cinderella and Batgirl. Another acquaintance caused a disaster by accidentally bumping into one of the five (5) wedding cakes provided for her niece's wedding. It provoked scenes of anguish and dismay worthy of "Le radeau de la Méduse".
If you live in a country stricken with the same kind of madness - and I greatly fear that this madness has infected all of the developed world - you could do worse than have a look at "The wedding video". It contains a lot of satirical barbs aimed at the wedding industry (or is it wedding ideology ?) and its adherents. In a more general sense the movie also mocks those who continually aspire to more - more money, more status, more titles. Which normal person would like to go and live in a stately home hung with absurd hunting trophies ? (Watch out for the joke with one of the trophies.)
With regard to these aspects "The wedding video" certainly works : there are good jokes and gags to enjoy. It becomes less satisfying where and when it turns into a romcom. The various emotions felt by the three protagonists do not ring all that true, individually or collectively, and the conclusion is so facile that it insults the intelligence of the viewer. Try this stuff in real life, as opposed to a movie, and you will cause a genuine tragedy, possibly even the kind of tragedy which will end up before a criminal court.
Still, the movie towers like a Colossus over the bridal romcom-nonsense churned out routinely by the USA, most of which, in my humble opinion, belongs somewhere in the one-to-three-star territory.
People lucky enough to fall into a higher income category could afford some luxuries. The honeymoon, for instance, became two or three weeks in France (saucy), Spain (exotic) or Italy (romantic). Often the bride wore a gown which screamed "wedding" to such an extent that it could be worn but once in the same lifetime ; later on, most of these gowns were lovingly preserved as an heirloom for a future daughter. Other brides would cut up their gowns in order to use the veils and laces for a baby's cot or, alternatively, for a christening dress.
Most of this was sensible and, if you think upon it, pretty sweet. Decades have passed and by now, the year 2018, all kinds of weird and costly extravagances have attached themselves to the matrimonial ship, like expensive barnacles. We now find ourselves in an era in which, say, the bride's parents may very well have to pay for a full-blown children's party complete with clowns, magicians and Chinese "lion" dancers, because you wouldn't like the kids to get bored, now would you ? An acquaintance of mine discovered that her daughter, the bride, was being escorted by flower-toting children dressed as Puss-in-boots, Cinderella and Batgirl. Another acquaintance caused a disaster by accidentally bumping into one of the five (5) wedding cakes provided for her niece's wedding. It provoked scenes of anguish and dismay worthy of "Le radeau de la Méduse".
If you live in a country stricken with the same kind of madness - and I greatly fear that this madness has infected all of the developed world - you could do worse than have a look at "The wedding video". It contains a lot of satirical barbs aimed at the wedding industry (or is it wedding ideology ?) and its adherents. In a more general sense the movie also mocks those who continually aspire to more - more money, more status, more titles. Which normal person would like to go and live in a stately home hung with absurd hunting trophies ? (Watch out for the joke with one of the trophies.)
With regard to these aspects "The wedding video" certainly works : there are good jokes and gags to enjoy. It becomes less satisfying where and when it turns into a romcom. The various emotions felt by the three protagonists do not ring all that true, individually or collectively, and the conclusion is so facile that it insults the intelligence of the viewer. Try this stuff in real life, as opposed to a movie, and you will cause a genuine tragedy, possibly even the kind of tragedy which will end up before a criminal court.
Still, the movie towers like a Colossus over the bridal romcom-nonsense churned out routinely by the USA, most of which, in my humble opinion, belongs somewhere in the one-to-three-star territory.