When A Balinese girl is denied permission to marry outside of her clan, there is a traditional solution for the family of the suitor: 1. Draw up a Wedding Contract. 2. Kidnap the Bride. The couple then flees for protection to the suitor's village, and three days of tense negotiations begin. The hostilities often escalate between two neighboring clans, but the negotiations become raucous and bizarre in The Wedding Contract: A Balinese Love Story when the suitor turns out to be a Westerner. This intimate personal narrative follows the relationship of David and Mariyati from the beginning, as it develops from a novelty flirtation to a forbidden romance. The film navigates deep into Balinese culture in a clash of clan against clan, and East against West.
—Anonymous