After the Wedding - Jen

Jorgen was such a complicated figure. I couldn't figure out, was he morally good or morally bad? In between, I guess...like most people. Jorgen was clearly manipulative as hell - he manipulated Jacob into showing up, then going to the wedding, then staying - but he was acting like that for noble reasons. And really, who better to look after your family than your daughter's biological father and your wife's former lover? It does kind of make sense.

But Jorgen just couldn't be wholly likable. At first I wanted to like him, because he was obviously a very charitable guy, but his lack of interest in Jacob's project set off alarm bells even before I knew what the real story was. His behavior at the restaurant was frustrating, too. It's like, "Dude, you're dying, and I'm sorry, but you can't treat people like crap just because you're not going to be around much longer." This is probably strange, but I felt that he was undermining his good works by acting like that.

Jacob, of course, was complex as well. I felt so bad for him. Continually he had to put others before himself. He didn't want to leave India and suck up to the money man. He didn't want to miss Pramod's birthday. He didn't want to stay in Denmark, not really, he wanted to go back to his home. But he did stay, not only to take care of his daughter, but also to take care of his surrogate children back in India. And while he did ask Pramod to go with him, he did not push Pramod against his will. It's hard to imagine that kind of selflessness. Not that Jacob was a saint, by the way. I found his actions frustrating as well, at first. But he was understandable. Maybe more so than Jorgen, at least in my eyes.