After the Wedding

"Love lives of the rich and childless" could be the subtitle for this quiet melodrama, which is built on family secrets and a surfeit of abrupt twists. Director Bart Freundlich - aka Mr Julianne Moore - uses a steady hand to craft a gender reboot of Susanne Bier's same-titled 2006 drama, and he spends much of the running time wrestling this emotional roller-coaster into quiet reveals and emotional thuds. Isabel (Michelle Williams) heads an orphanage in Calcutta, where she hides from the world while doing something worthy. When she flies to New York to meet Theresa (Moore), who was to fund Isabel's work, there's a delay during which Theresa invites Isabel to attend her daughter's society wedding. There, the story takes hold like a bucking bronco in slow motion. The less one knows about the plot the better, as bitter truths are revealed, forcing sour choices to be made. As heavy-handed as the production and costume design are, the moments when Moore and Williams share the screen hint at a powerful tale of mothers, daughters and love that this film, sadly, can't quite reach.