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.

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'.

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...