Le bonheur (Happiness)
Directed by Agnes Varda
Written by Agnes Varda
1965/France
Parc Film
First viewing/FilmStruck
[box] François Chevalier: I love you. Look at me. I love you. It’s like if I had ten arms to hug you and you had ten arms for me. We’re all mixed together. But I found myself with extra arms. I’m taking nothing from you, see?[/box]
Varda has a little poison dart hidden behind all the pretty images in this beautiful and thought-provoking film.
Francois Chevalier is a young married man with a wife, Therese, and two adorable toddlers. (These are played by Jean-Claude Druout and his real life wife and children). The couple are very much in love and enjoy the simple happiness of a well-ordered daily life and idyllic weekends in the gorgeous countryside of what looks like the South of France.
One day, Francois meets gorgeous young post mistress Emelie (Marie-France Boyer). It is lust at first site for both of them and they soon declare their love for each other. She is totally accepting of his marriage and his love for his wife. They begin an affair. Francois figures that he is not hurting anyone but only increasing his own happiness. I will not spoil the subversive ending to this film.
The cinematography is completely gorgeous with a Van Gogh-like palette of colors. Life simply could not look more idyllic that what is portrayed in this movie. Yet beneath all the beauty and sensual contentment, Varda has quite a lot to say about male entitlement and folly. I’ll be thinking about this for a while. I wouldn’t mind watching again. Highly recommended.
