Married in America

In 1998, 42 UP was released, the latest episode of Michael Apted’s 7 UP series, in which a group of children is followed, in seven-year intervals from when they were seven, and interviewed about the course of their lives. Now, Apted has started a second series with a similar form and of a comparable calibre. Every two years, he returns to the couples that have pledged loyalty to one another. In the first episode of Married in America, filmed between August and November 2001, we see the nine selected couples in the days preceding their weddings, with their relatives, in their living environments and on their wedding days. In interviews, both together on the couch and individually, Apted asks the couples about their opinions about each other, fidelity, sex, children and their ambitions. At times, this leads to surprisingly different answers that hint at conflicts we can expect in future episodes. The couples live all over the United States and have different social backgrounds. To show what takes place within present-day relationships in America, Apted selected partners with mixed ethnic backgrounds or religious convictions, a homosexual couple, a second marriage with children and a couple of which the woman earns more than the man. (International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam)