Final Rating: 4.5/5
Uiksaringitara, or Wrong Husband, is a gorgeous Inuit epic depicting both an intimate romance between two lovers, and a grander supernatural conflict between rival families. Director Zacharias Kunuk effortlessly traverses both worlds, blending documentary and blockbuster styles to create a film that’s thrilling as often as it is touching.
Uiksaringitara begins with a scene of two women on a beach at dusk. As the women walk around, poking at rocks and exploring the coast, they are suddenly accosted by a troll, who emerges from the ocean and abducts one of the women. “Mother!” the other cries out; “Sister!” the abducted woman cries back, before she disappears into the water, never to be seen again.
Many years later, the remaining woman lives near that same beach with her husband and two couples. The children of those couples, Kaujak and Sapa, are inseparable growing up, and have been promised to each other from birth. Within their village, they even become known as “future wife” and “future husband.”
But when the two are almost of marrying age, tragedy strikes the village, leaving Kaujak’s mother widowed. Shortly after, a man named Makpa visits the village while Sapa is away hunting, and offers to marry Kaujak’s mother, taking both back to his village. Suddenly, Kaujak and Sapa’s future together becomes a distant dream, unless Sapa can win back Kaujak from her new family.
Mark Taqqaugaq gives a stellar performance as “wifeless” Makpa. Introduced as a jovial but unlucky man from a neighbouring village, Makpa is initially sympathetic to the grieving families. It’s only after offering to marry Kaujak’s mother and taking both back to his village that his story begins to unravel. The village elders consider how peculiar his timing was, as Kaujak and her mother quickly realize how useless he is as a husband and father. Taqqaugaq switches from agreeable to uncaring on a dime, his character that of a man who had one goal – get a wife – and stopped growing once that goal was achieved. Taqqaugaq plays Makpa as consistently pathetic but manages to make that piteousness feel dangerous.
The conflict at the centre of Uiksaringitara is grounded: a woman forced into a family against her will resists while her true love fights to win her back. Parallel to this, however, Kunuk builds a supernatural reflection from the start. Makpa – an off-putting oaf of a man – comes uninvited from the sea to steal the women of the village, differentiated from the troll merely by how much he speaks. The women who are abducted, Kaujak and her mother, similarly refer to each other with opposite epithets – Kaujak calling her mother “Little Sister,” while her mother refers to her as “Big Sister”.
Kunuk masterfully weaves the natural and supernatural together, seamlessly switching between major effects shots straight out of a blockbuster, and a more realistic, docufiction style. The result is a film that can support both an over-the-top spirit-world duel between two shamans, and a stunning depiction of an ancient Inuit funeral. In blending the worlds, Kunuk’s style of storytelling mimics a campfire tale, full of exaggerations and half-truths, all in service of a fuller, more intimate account of something real. Uiksaringitara isn’t about just any arranged marriage, it’s about an arranged marriage decades in the making that nearly destroyed two villages and multiple families.
Kunuk’s attention to detail pays off to not only create a living document of old Inuit traditions, but also to endear the characters to the audience. The first half of the film shows the everyday life of an Inuit family 4000 years ago, devoting attention to depicting details of the culture. Characters call each other by nicknames and playful titles – “mother,” “little sister,” “future husband,” “wifeless.” The seal hunt is shown in full, as are several scenes of characters mending clothes and tents. During the aforementioned funeral scene, the entire procession is shown with all the rituals.
After spending time with them, the relationship between Kaujak and Sapa feels like the centre of a rich world. The two become cornerstones of a village of memorable characters. When Makpa arrives in a kayak, he disturbs the delicate balance Kunuk has built, throwing everyone into a state of unease.
Fantastic performances, an exciting story, and beautiful directing bring the ancient north to mesmerizing life in Uiksaringitara. Kunuk is at the top of his game.
Wrong Husband (Uiksaringitara) was seen during the 2025 Toronto International Film Festival.
