‘Son of the Bride’ Faces His Midlife Crises

Juan Jose Campanella’s “Son of the Bride” is a warm and affectionate Argentine film of wide appeal that is an Academy Award nominee in the foreign-language category. It stars Ricardo Darin as the 42-year-old proprietor of an upscale Buenos Aires restaurant, and reunites Hector Alterio and Norma Aleandro, stars of the 1985 Oscar-winner “The Official Story,” as his parents.

As a child, Darin’s Rafael Belvederes loved to imagine he was Zorro, but in midlife, each day has become more stressful than the last as he tries to make ends meet in Argentina’s unstable economy. He had incurred his mother’s disapproval for refusing to go to law school and instead choosing to take over the family’s Italian restaurant. Now that he has rescued it from the doldrums and made it a success--at the cost of his marriage--he cannot win his mother’s blessing because she has been overcome by Alzheimer’s disease.

Stress has made him not only irritable but also so self-absorbed that he becomes increasingly oblivious to the beautiful young woman, Nati (Natalia Verbeke), who has fallen in love with him. He can talk only of getting away from everything by running off to Mexico, though he has no idea what he would do with his life once he got there. Something’s got to give.

Campanella is not interested in plot as much as evoking the everyday lives of his people and how they interact and affect each other. The depth of his concern for them and the loving good humor with which he views them gives his film an infectious emotional richness. It is clear that Rafael is a good, conscientious man, dedicated to the business his parents started, and a loving if distracted father to his young daughter Victoria (Gimena Nobile). What will it take to get Rafael to take a good look at those closest to him? He then might be able to support wholeheartedly his father’s all-consuming desire to bestow upon his beloved wife the only thing he ever denied her: a church wedding.

As central a figure as Rafael is, Campanella is no less concerned with the others in his life, all of whom are three-dimensional, likable individuals. The steadfast love his courtly father holds for his sweet, fading wife is touching to behold, and Rafael’s boyhood pal, Juan Carlos (Eduardo Blanco), a wistful, free-spirited actor of minuscule success, re-enters his life after a 20-year absence, to bring him both his own considerable problems but also an unexpected perspective.

Tall, lanky and woebegone, Blanco has a fresh comic presence with an underlying seriousness. Alterio and Aleandro, who have worked together a number of times, are icons of Argentina’s stage and screen, and the sheer effortlessness of their work is a pleasure to watch.

Verbeke is luminous, and Darin anchors the film with his engaging portrayal of Rafael as he works his way through a painful and crucial turning point in his life.

Although a film of constant talk and little action, “Son of the Bride” maintains a brisk, buoyant pace and keeps us involved throughout its two-hour running time. “Son of the Bride” is also one of the few films among numerous notable Argentine productions to receive a theatrical release in the United States.

MPAA rating: R, for language. Times guidelines: Aside from a few blunt words, the film is suitable for all ages.

‘Son of the Bride’

Ricardo Darin...Rafael Belvedere

Hector Alterio...Nino Belvedere

Norma Aleandro...Nora Belvedere

Eduardo Blanco...Juan Carlos

Natalia Verbeke...Nati

A Sony Pictures Classics release of an Argentine-Spanish co-production: Pol-Ka Proiducciones/ Patagonik Film Group/Tornasol Films/Jempsa, supported by the INCAA, ICAA and sponsored by Via Digital. Producer-director Juan Jose Campanella. Executive producer Mariela Besuievdsky. Screenplay by Campanella and Fernando Castets. Cinematographer Juan Vera. Editor Mercedes Alfonsin. Music Camilo Antollini. Costumes Cecila Monti. Art director Daniel Shulman. In Spanish, with English subtitles. Running time: 2 hours, 2 minutes.

At selected theaters.