White Night Wedding (2008)

In less than twenty-four hours, a middle-aged academic and his nearly half his age fiancée will get married in Iceland's windswept island, Flatey, amid endless preparations and bitter second thoughts. Is this what they really want?

Director:

Baltasar Kormákur

Writers:

Baltasar Kormákur (screenplay), Ólafur Egilsson (screenplay)

Stars:

Hilmir Snær Guðnason, Margrét Vilhjálmsdóttir, Laufey Elíasdóttir

9 wins & 1 nomination.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Hilmir Snær Guðnason	...	Jón
Margrét Vilhjálmsdóttir	...	Anna
Laufey Elíasdóttir	...	Þóra
Þröstur Leó Gunnarsson	...	Börkur
Jóhann Sigurðarson	...	Lárus
Ólafía Hrönn Jónsdóttir	...	Sísí
Ólafur Darri Ólafsson	...	Sjonni
Ilmur Kristjánsdóttir	...	Matthildur
Ólafur Egilsson	...	Séra Ólafur
Herdís Þorvaldsdóttir	...	Kristín
Karl Guðmundsson	...	Jon's father
Karl Agust Þórbergsson	...	Student (Nemendur)
Baltasar Breki Baltasarsson	...	Student (Nemendur)
Sigurlaug Elín Þórhallsdóttir	...	Student (Nemendur)
Christof Wehmeier	...	German tourist (Þyskur ferdamadur)

Storyline

Jon, a middle-aged professor is going to get married tomorrow, for the second time, to one of his ex-students half his age. But it's not all roses. First, there's his cranky mother-in-law-to-be who violently opposes the marriage and who demands repayment of Jon's loan before the wedding night. Second, his plans to build a golf course on the little island of Flatey where they live aren't going at all to plan. Third, his extremely drunk best man is on the loose without any shoes and lastly, the continual presence of his emotional first wife is haunting his every move. When the guests start flocking to the island, Jon starts getting cold feet. After a very long night of drinking and thinking, will Jon be able to make it to the church on time?

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Plot Keywords:

island | golf course | professor | golf | church | 

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Taglines:

A Midsummer Night's Comedy.

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Genres:

Comedy | Drama

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Certificate:

Unrated

Details

Country:

Iceland

Language:

Icelandic English

Release Date:

18 January 2008 (Iceland)

Also Known As:

White Night Wedding

Filming Locations:

Flatey, Iceland

Company Credits

Production Co:

Blueeyes Productions

Technical Specs

Runtime:

96 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Iceland's official entry for the 2009 foreign-language Oscar.

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Soundtracks

Adur oft eg hef arkad Þennan veg
(aka "On the street where you live")
Music by Frederick Loewe and lyrics by Egill Bjarnason
Performed by Krishnakumar Kunnath

User Reviews

live, laugh, cry, drink and meander in the white nights of iceland

Hmmmmm. And an admiring hmm at that. First thing I thought of is the same kind of emotional juxtaposition or almost confusion that rings through this movie as Reykevik 101 (the director's first film). Back then I was very uncomfortable with that, now still not normal per se but more manageable yet kind of refreshing.

Base on an Chekhov's Ivanov, the film alters back and forth wonderfully over time on events before and immediately leading up to a wedding on an island between an professor and a young girl. While the story's theme obviously stated in the movie and told by the director in Q&A, is about searching for happiness and doing the "right" thing, many hilarious moments are interjected directly with the dramatic moments and vice versa. And these moments of emotional swings are very immediate creating a push and pull effect. And this might affect some audience immersing into the story.

Q&A also brought out the same cast also acted in a stage production of the same play during the same time as the film's release in Iceland and was a very successful run. At times though, I did find a certain "lecturing" aspect in a few of the scenes. So although good, still a very idealistic or somewhat protruding kind of meandering.