Wesele (2004) User Reviews

An intellectual farce with plenty of vodka

[hunaja5 · 8/10 · 26 June 2005]

A delightful and meticulous farce with a touch of poetic realism (something along the lines of "La règle du jeu" by Jean Renoir updated and in a Polish context). Wedding reception, the puffed-up romantic climax of the "happiest day of your life", is turned into a satiric interpretation of the materialistic laws of the "money rules" society and the "keeping up with the appearance" attitude that comes with it. At times at an incredible pace, the montage shows guests playing vulgar games, while the bride's grand-father's corpse (and the old values with him) are already rotting in the toilet. And then there's vodka, the other ever-powerful social lubricator of all Slavic cultures (and some others as well; mind me saying, as Aki Kaurismäki depicts in his movies the same obsession found in Finland quite well, too).

By choosing to portray a "typical" wedding with all its weird and, at the same time, obligatory traditions, "Wesele" manages to smuggle the wider context of social change into the world of fiction. - How about that ostentatious wedding gift, a car stolen from Germany, following the often-told joke both by Germans and Polish: go to Poland - your car already is there! Not wanting to offend the Polish culture and its traditions here, on the contrary: "Wesele" is a poignant example of merciless but humouristic self-irony in the national context; still, it manages to find its reference also in the international field, as we all in the western culture are wrapped up in a consumer-crazed society and the style of living that comes with it. So, everything has a price and is up for a bribe.

The zenith comes when the bride's father - a central figure arranging everything with money, from the stolen wedding gift to driving under influence arrest - finds himself not only robbed of his money (he has it hidden in a greenhouse; as my Polish friends pointed out, the Polish do not trust banks... another subtle social commentary here), but abandoned by his wife, his daughter the bride, and even by his dog. The happy end? - Bride running away with her old boy-friend, the cameraman, finally united with her true love (maybe). At least it seems to underline the film's subversive stand, and the longing for values more profound than those found in cold cash.

Satire on traditional Polish wedding reception: funny story with vivid characters.

[marcin_kukuczka · 7/10 · 7 November 2004]

Wojciech Smarzowski, one of the most talented young Polish directors, made this film to show not only a stereotypical Polish wedding reception (the word "wesele" in the title means wedding reception), but to bring into view some vivid characters, their values, and the Polish reality that has seriously changed since 1989.

Wieslaw Wojnar, a rich landsman, prepares a wealthy wedding for his daughter, Kasia. He wants to show off in the village: orchestra, good food, and, most importantly, two wonderful gifts for the young couple: a car and honeymoon in Croatia. What more should they want: "there is money so there is everything!" He is deadly selfish and materialistic. But in the eyes of people: a man of honor! However, as the wedding goes on, things start to turn against him and his huge sum of money safely hidden starts to disappear...

The director shows two kinds of people: the majority whose only master is money, and a small group of very few people who are aware that life and happiness mean something more than the search for riches. This is the Granpa, who symbolically says "I'll never sell my land" but "land" means, in fact, all values he lived like patriotism or love. The bride is similar: she does not only live to be rich but also knows what love should be like. Her tragedy, however, is that her new husband thinks precisely the opposite. He gets married in order to get a car from his father in law and show off among his friends. Fortunately, Kasia lives with him only one day...

This group of people, like Kasia's husband, whose only happiness is to be rich are presented in very amusing contexts. Mundek, the lawyer, and many, many others. They are the gist of the comedy, really funny! But I won't say more because you should see the film for yourself.

WESELE is a wonderful movie but it has to be interpreted in the right way. For those who do not know the Polish reality whatsoever, it might sometimes seem confusing. But just for the sake of fun, do see it. You will laugh most of the time, I promise. Even the horrific end for the old Wojnar is funny.

One advice: don't laugh at Poles drinking so much. As a matter of fact, every nation does have its shortcomings...

Polish bigos - Nearly drunk narration and a moving camera watching what people would like to hide

[Kuba_D · 7/10 · 10 May 2007]

From the first scenes of the film where the father of the bride gets furious because the video-operator doesn't have on tape the moment where he brings the daughter to the groom, you already know that Smarzowski's movie will be ruled by the law of absurd.

The story evolves like in a drunken vision. The local wealthy man Wojnar (Marian Dziedziel) is getting his daughter married and he buys them a luxurious Audi TT as a gift. What Wojnar doesn't know is that the car is stolen, but what he does know is that excluding the money, he must give two thousand acres of land to the gangster who brought the car for him. The land however is grandfather's and he is not willing to sell it. On one hand the viewer sees the wedding on which Tymon Tymanski sings out 'The White Bear' and hosts some totally embarrassing games. Everybody are getting drunk, argue and strangely enough tend to undress. On the other hand the criminal plot evolves. The gangster (Pawel Wilczak) gets angry with Wojnar for the delay. He shoots off his finger and after the arrangements are done, he leaves him with false papers.

'Wesele' is similar to a volcano - ready to blow up. The grandfather dies, but his corpse doesn't seem to have an effect on anybody. The bride watches if the her ex-boyfriend is beaten good. Wojnar drives home for money, but is stopped by the police. The filled toilet explodes and pours out what becomes a metaphor of the disgusting on-screen world. Everybody here is covered in... 'excrements'. Everything smells and bring disgust.

Wojciech Smarzowski has made a logical, with an aim to be dirty and a great realization. The camera who watches over what man would like to hide most.

From "Wesele" which wants to portrait the modern Polish mentality, just as Wyspianski's play wanted to (there is even a quote from the play - "one should be in boots at the wedding"), comes out a whole catalog of our bad sides. The characters are sick about the money. They envy, lie and cheat. And it is not Wojnar who is the most disgusting here - it is his company surrounding him. Starting with the administrator, the musician and the bride. Because everybody can be saint and indigested when bad, mean and nasty is always 'he', 'someone', 'the other one'.

An awesome portrait about society values and decay

[edward_barett · 10/10 · 1 April 2011]

I enjoyed this movie from the very beginning to its end. Direction is superb, screenplay, character's performance, everything is brilliantly played and the output is understandingly remarkable. On the other hand, I disagree with some of the opinions posted on this board; this movie does not intend to reflect the lack of improvement since the fall of communism in Poland, or the advances of capitalism. It is not focused on politics, or at least I never got that impression. It's merely a burlesque artwork on human feelings, disillusion and settled values of this new global society; the impact they have on the lives of people in a small town in central Europe. Villages are the same elsewhere, in France or in USA, in Brazil or in Sweden, and villagers are always subjected to mockery because of their outdated and weird customs. For me, this is the best movie i've ever seen from Poland, and a great surprise. Will always recommend it!

Best Polish movie of 2004

[tkaszuba-1 · 10/10 · 16 December 2005]

This movie is great! It shows the Polish rural life in all it's majestic glory. Sure not all of these things happen at every wedding but most of these things I've heard or witnessed myself such as the father making a "grand" display of his wealth, the offering of a daughter for a "better" life or the finality of the wedding when the grooms father tells everyone that their money sucking leaches and they should get the f**k out.

Most people from the west might not understand some of the situations but situations like this do happen and that's what makes the movie so great.

No major improvement since the fall of communism

[trixie650203 · 7/10 · 7 May 2007]

I rarely comment on films but I have to respond to the American commenter who said that this film was an utter confusion. It's no wonder that someone from Texas does not understand this way of life, but we here, after 50 years of communism do understand it. Drinking, materialism, corruption, bribery, blackmailing, rape etc. These were the basics of our lives for decades and it is so sad to see that there is no improvement in Poland after the fall of the Iron Curtain. The events depicted are very similar to those that would take place in rural Hungary. The movie was quite amusing but very sad at the same time.

Muswell Hillbillies

[valis1949 · 7/10 · 20 October 2010]

WEDDING transforms a joyous occasion into a real 'Walk On The Wild Side". I am unfamiliar with Polish demographics, but I would imagine that, in America, the people depicted in the film would be called, "Hillbillies". And, by that I mean people who live in a remote, rural area in the South, often in the Appalachian (Or sometimes Ozark) Mountains, and therefore are isolated and somewhat out of touch with modern culture. In short, they would best be described as, "Rude, Crude, and Lewd". WEDDING is not funny unless you have a particularly diseased sense of humor. However, it is exceedingly twisted and perverse. Worth a look.

Possibly the silliest film I have ever seen

[Witold · 1/10 · 5 August 2005]

If one tries to follow the logic in the film, one finds just too many contradictions and discontinuities. The bride noticed only after the wedding vows were exchanged that her new husband wanted the Audi car and not her ? Only at the wedding reception in front of a large pot in the kitchen she begins talking to her mother about life and love; living under one roof they never had an opportunity to talk about these issues before ? A real estate sale document notarized during the weekend has not been recorded, this was supposed to be done Monday; it is still the weekend, yet the notary wants money for annulment and the hero is willing to pay a large sum. The hero is quite successful financially, yet he does not keep any money in the bank ? Who and for what reason moved the body of the grandfather of the bride from the bathroom to inside of a cello box ? How could this have happened with the band playing in the front of that cello box ? A crook sells to the hero a stolen car and instead of cash wants a deed to a piece of real estate near the residence of the hero ? One could continue this list of nonsenses much longer ...

A sad small glimpse of what seems to be authentic Polish life.

[SepikRiver · 3/10 · 30 January 2011]

Very true to life.

Very Slavic - lots of drinking - very believable but boring and the film goes on way too long!!!!

The plot is plausible but uninteresting.

The characters seem real but very disconnected.

The characters are well acted but very two dimensional.

Photography goes from the film camera to the cheap video camera used by the videographer shooting the wedding.

The sound, music and other technical aspects are weak.

True vignette of eastern Europe.

Avoid this film it is endlessly repetitive.