Isabel (Michelle Williams) journeys from the Indian Orphanage in which she works to New York to meet the wealthy funder of her charity, Theresa (Julianne Moore). Things are complicated when Isabel discovers she is the birth mother of Theresa’s stepdaughter, and that Theresa’s husband Oscar (Billy Crudup), Isabel’s former partner, told Isabel that he had given up the child.
The film is fairly melodramatic with lots of plot contrivances and big emotions. Characters scream and cry and it’s all just a little artificial. At the heart of the film is a dilemma between philanthropic love and personal love. There’s a dichotomy between a woman who has forgone the personal in favour of charity work and a woman who only values her immediate family. It’s unclear what is being said about this age-old dichotomy. Eventually, the charitable woman is basically coerced into replacing the family woman. She seems unhappy about it.
Isabelle’s character is for the most part a despicable character played with mustache-twirling villainy by Moore. She callously dangles the prospect of a £20 million grant in front of a woman who is hoping to use the money to help children. Ultimately her motivation is revealed to be desperation and her final scene is certainly affecting, even if the film and Moore haven’t quite succeeded in engendering sympathy with the character.
After the Wedding aims for family-focused high drama but often succumbs to camp. There are affecting and interesting stories here, but the experience is less than transformative.
Three stars