A Wedding and Other Obstacles - Blu-ray

Content: Diamond merchant Roni (Kad Merad) and his wife Giovana (Monica Bellucci) are extremely proud that their beloved daughter Melita (Clara Ponsot) is getting married. Of course, Roni's brother, musician Zef (Eric Elmosnino) is also invited to the celebration. But since the brothers have absolutely nothing in common and aren't exactly the best of friends, Zef doesn't really want to go to the wedding - a fact that doesn't necessarily make Roni sad. But then Zef's wife is killed in an accident and is to be buried the day before Melita's wedding, of all things. This casts a dark shadow over the festivities, especially since Melita was so looking forward to celebrating her big day with her cousin Noga (Lou de Laâge) - but she, of course, doesn't feel like celebrating at all. As fate would have it, complications arise during the planning of the funeral, which also affect the wedding. But just how big a mess is actually unleashed that weekend will only be revealed over the course of the following year...

Danièle Thompson, screenwriter of classics such as the La Boum films or various comedies starring Pierre Richard and Louis de Funes, has put herself in the director's chair for the fifth time for A Wedding and Other Obstacles. As he did with A Perfect Place or Affairs à la carte, Thompson again tries to mix humor with more serious undertones. At the beginning, however, this doesn't quite want to work, as the staging here shuttles back and forth a bit indecisively between too-brave black comedy and too-shallow drama. While there are some very wonderful moments, there are also many scenes in which a slight feeling of strangeness spreads.

After the titular wedding is ticked off and the action shifts to Saint Tropez, the whole thing seems much more coherent. Admittedly, the humorous aspect of the story diminishes considerably and the film here is more romance and amusing family film than a true comedy. But since it was the humor that seemed a bit awkward at the beginning, its withdrawal has a rather positive effect on the entertainment value. So no really big laughs should be expected. And also the expectation that Kad Merad and Monica Bellucci are playing the main roles, which might have been fuelled by the cover, should be scaled down a bit. Because even if it seems at the beginning as if the two unequal brothers Roni and Zef are in the center of the action, Noga steps in the course of the film more and more in the center of the story.

The finale seems arguably constructed and a bit far-fetched. However, that doesn't change much about the fact that the film manages to win the audience's sympathy better and better until then. Even if there are a lot of things that don't really work out and it's obvious again and again that a much better movie could have been made out of all the good ingredients, all in all A Wedding and Other Obstacles is somehow very charming and entertaining, which is also due to the actors. Danièle Thompson has written much better stories in her career, to be sure. But here again she has managed some very nice and endearing moments, which is why it is then despite all the weaknesses to the bottom line still enough for a satisfied worth seeing!

Picture + Sound: The image of the Blu-ray has a very high image sharpness and pleasantly powerful colors, which are especially in the second half of the film in the beautiful shots of Saint Tropez real holiday feeling arise. As is often the case with comedies, the music and powerfully mixed dialogue set the tone. But it's the abundance of ambient sounds like ocean noise that make the overall sound mix sound pleasantly lively. Good!

Extras: As a bonus, the Blu-ray has only the trailer for the film and other program tips from Tiberius Film to offer.

Conclusion: With A Wedding and Other Obstacles Danièle Thompson has directed a well-cast comedy, which at the beginning still seems a bit indecisive, but in the end offers nice and entertaining entertainment. Even if the whole thing seems too contrived, the production exudes enough charm in the second half to console over some minor weaknesses. Certainly not Thompson's best film, but on balance thoroughly recommendable for lovers of light French family comedies!

An article by Frankfurt-Tipp