The original title of this French comedy, Qu’est-ce qu’on a fait au Bon Dieu?, means “What have we done wrong to God?” At the same time, it is the lamentation of the great provincial, catholic bourgeoisie Claude Verneuil, played by the actor Cristian Clavier, and his wife Marie, acted by Chantal Lauby. The two are undoubtedly filled with emotions, having raised their four daughters successfully. Yet, they come to quarrel with providence as they reluctantly welcome a Muslim, a Jewish, and Chinese son-in-law into the family.

 

Because of the serial cultural collision between the three immigrant sons-in-law and her husband, Marie eventually falls into severe depression. Still, she wisely tries to overcome the blues by inviting everyone for Christmas. She holds a sumptuous feast by cooking three turkeys, each following an Islamic, Jewish, and Chinese recipe. The sons-in-law also strive to please Claude and Marie by going to the Mass on Christmas and singing hymns.

 

Philippe de Chauveron, the director of this film, exposes the dim reality of present immigrantintegrated France in a witty way. This is perhaps why the movie was able to occupy the position of top box office hit in France for a month after its release in April. The film has received critical acclaim in its home country, and has attracted more than 12 million French cinema-goers.

 

Simultaneously, though, the film has caused overseas controversy. It has been rejected by British and American film distributors who deemed it politically incorrect and racist. As the youngest daughter of the Verneuil family, Laure, acted by Élodie Fontan, decides to marry a black man from the Ivory Coast, the director’s original intent to promote multicultural tolerance received negative reviews in the English-language film trade press. Similar to how Laure’s wedding crashes into crisis until the very last second of the wedding day, the film will not be able to evade harsh admonition.

Nevertheless, the film has already registered itself as one of the highest-rated French movies worldwide, and many critics are looking forward to seeing whether it will surpass the 2011 megahit, Intouchables. The key to its astonishing record perhaps has to do with its accurate preying on the viewer’s sympathy . The emotional collision and mediation of conflicts prior to a wedding are a common worry for all parents around the world. It is often this family’s excessive love and care that brings domestic strife, but simultaneously, this love ultimately bonds the family even stronger.

 

The serial tilt and resurrection of the family is a picture of everyday life, coming and going like the four seasons of the year. In the case of the Verneuil family, the disharmony deepens as winter comes, when Laure confesses her affair with Charles, played by the actor Noom Diawara. As the cold infiltrates every crack of the house, the opposition between the two families even triggers the collapse of the Verneuils.

Nonetheless, time passes by indifferently, and the warm summer sun soon rises. The scenery revives with vitality and energy, and harmony and reconciliation of all past misunderstandings become invisible. Claude finally realizes that the serial weddings are no longer “bad,” but in fact a never-ending “fad” for his family as well as all families beyond time and space. He, as well as Marie, grasps the essence of what seemed like mere “bad” weddings; a rite of passage that all fathers have to undergo in order to become a true “dad.”

 

This universal notion of love is indeed powerful, as it is the key solution to the chronic racial issue, social disparity, and religious discord that are all infecting the ongoing pursuit of peace. Apart from their ethnic differences, all three sons-inlaw, as well as the fiancé and the four daughters, have different jobs. While the Arab is a lawyer with a steady income, the Ivorian fiancé is a stage actor. However, such social positions become meaningless under the power of family, where everyone is equally precious and loved.

While dealing with such a ubiquitous concept, the director does not miss out on his modern senses in the minor details. Even though Claude and Marie represent the typical conservative parents, they use the video telephone when arranging a meeting with Charles’ parents. The idea of marriage remains intact, but the steps carried out have significantly changed compared with the past. The way technology has penetrated everyone’s lives is also portrayed through the way the priest shops on the Internet to order his clerical clothing, a scene that seems unnatural yet somewhat familiar and ordinary nowadays.

 

This movie certainly imparts a message to people all around the world, especially Koreans. Since Korea is shifting from a single-race nation to a multicultural country, new tasks at the national level as well as new institutional aspects are required. Above all, though, the movie urges a change at the individual level. People should try to embrace foreigners with tolerance and break down the walls of prejudice that accuse foreigners of being different and deviations from the norm. When the barriers between the “normal” and “abnormal” are demolished, the “bad” inside the parentheses will disappear completely.