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film review

Three grooms – a Chinese man, an Arab and a Jew – of different backgrounds enter a church to marry three daughters of French parents who begrudgingly bless the succession of mixed marriages

In Philippe de Chauveron's comedy Serial (Bad) Weddings, three grooms – a Chinese man, an Arab and a Jew – enter a church to marry three daughters of white, well-to-do French parents who swallow their misgivings and mild bigotry to begrudgingly bless the succession of mixed marriages.

Things go beyond the pale, though, when the fourth youngest, and prettiest daughter (played by the Jane Birkin - beautiful Élodie Fontan) presents an African fiancé. The dark pigment is just too much for the parents; preparations for the guess-who's-coming-to-the wedding are fraught with tension.

Although the fluid and entertaining film was wildly popular in Quebec and Europe on its initial release a year ago, North American audiences will likely be divided, either harrumphing over the ethnic clichés or laughing at the all-too-real tribalism that's no joke, but is just that.

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