ARRANGED MARRIAGE

Would you, living in a developed country which allows you to take decisions about your own life, voluntarily marry someone, whom you had never seen before you entered the town hall on the day of the wedding? That is exactly what is happening in Denmark, in a slightly bizarre combination of reality television and social experiment.

Four experts, a priest, a sexologist, a relationship therapist and an anthropologist, have scientifically matched three couples from a group of about 25 singles in their late twenties. The deal is that they have to get married without seeing each other before the wedding, and live together as man and wife for a minimum of four weeks. If at that point in time they can't stand each other, then they can get divorced. Adding to what must be a huge amount of natural pressure, the whole thing is filmed for the benefit of the rest of the population.

I missed episode 1, which dealt with the matching. Episode 2 this evening covered the wedding itself and the party afterwards, complete with in-laws and speeches. It was at the same time both slightly toe-curling and fascinating. My wife, who watched it with me, thinks that one them could last and possibly two. Time will tell.

Walter Blotscher