Le Bonheur ("Happiness") is a 1965 French drama film directed by Agnès Varda.[1][2] The film is associated with the French New Wave and won two awards at the 15th Berlin International Film Festival, including the Jury Grand Prix.[3]

Plot

François, a handsome young joiner working for his uncle, lives a comfortable and happy life with his pretty wife, Thérèse, a dressmaker, and their two children, Pierrot and Gisou. The family loves outings to the woods outside town. Although deeply happy with his life and devoted to his wife and children, François falls for Émilie, an attractive single woman who works at the post office, has a flat of her own, and closely resembles Thérèse.

One weekend, while picnicking in the woods, Thérèse asks François why he has seemed particularly happy lately. He explains that his love for her and the children remains unchanged but has been enhanced by the new happiness he has found with Émilie. Initially upset, Thérèse eventually accepts this, saying that her world is his happiness. After putting the children to sleep under a tree, she encourages François to make love to her. He falls asleep afterward and, upon waking, finds Thérèse gone. Desperately searching, he discovers her body, which anglers have retrieved from the lake.

After spending some time in the countryside, where relatives care for the children, François returns to work and seeks out Émilie. Before long, she moves into his house, looking after him and the children. The family is once again happy together and continues to enjoy outings to the woods. François has rediscovered abundant happiness in his life, loving his new wife and children.

Cast

François' wife and children are played by Jean-Claude Drouot's real-life family in their only film appearances.[4]

Reception

In a 2019 tribute to Agnès Varda, Sheila Heti, AS Hamrah, and Jenny Chamarette included Le Bonheur among their favourite of Varda's films, with Charmarette claiming it as her favourite and describing it as "like nothing else: a horror movie wrapped up in sunflowers, an excoriating feminist diatribe strummed to the tune of a love ballad. It’s one of the most terrifying films I’ve ever seen." Hamrah called Le Bonheur "Varda’s most shocking movie," adding "it’s deeply subversive and works like a horror film...How many films are truly shocking the way Le Bonheur is? I don’t think there are any others." While Heti stated "I don’t have a favourite, but the one I think about most often is probably Le Bonheur because it had such a devastating ending. It is perhaps the most straightforward in terms of story-telling, yet truly radical – emotionally radical, come the end...It’s impossible to stop thinking about this ending and what it says about love, life, chaos, and fate."[5]

References

  1. ^ "Le Bonheur / Happiness". unifrance.org. Retrieved 2014-02-21.
  2. ^ Weiler, A. H. (14 May 1966) "'Le Bonheur' at the Fine Arts:A Moving but Immature Treatment of Love Agnes Varda Chooses a Renoir Background." The New York Times. Retrieved on 15 May 2009.
  3. ^ "Berlinale 1965: Prize Winners". berlinale.de. Retrieved 2010-02-21.
  4. ^ Taubin, Amy. "Le bonheur: Splendor in the Grass". The Criterion Collection. Retrieved 17 July 2015.
  5. ^ Hamrah, AS; Barber-Plentie, Grace; Chamarette, Jenny; Reardon, Kiva; Elkin, Lauren; Labidi, Samia; Flitterman-Lewis, Sandy; Heti, Sheila (2019-04-08). "After Agnès Varda: A Discussion". AnotherGaze.com. Another Gaze. Retrieved 2020-06-08.
Allikas: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Le_Bonheur_(1965_film)
No tags for this post.