Year: 1965
Director: Agnes Varda
Country: France
Language: French
The French New Wave was a blanket term which was coined by critics to describe a group of French Filmmakers in the 50's and 60's. Though these people were never formally organized, their films projected very similar attitudes. They had self-conscious rejection of the literary period, a youthful spirit, and were more willing to discuss sociopolitical issues onscreen than the generation before then. Agnes Varda is an iconic female french new wave Director who has made a great variety of films, but perhaps is best known for Le Bonheur.
In the film, the main character/Seth Hader lookalike Francois (Jean-Claude Drouot) is a young carpenter married with Therese (Claire Drouot). They have two little children. All goes well, life is beautiful, the sun shines and the birds sing. One day, Francois meets a woman named Emilie (Marie France Boyer) , they fall in love and become lovers. He still loves his wife and wants to share his new greater happiness with her.
In English Le Bonheur means "Happiness" and though at first sight the picture may seem like the conventional film, where everything is too perfect, it is anything but. Varda attempts to show the dangers of trying to be happy at the expense of other people's happiness. Francois seems oblivious to his wife's pain and actually thinks he is justifying his infidelity when he says "but I'm happy, and if I'm happy then the entire family is happy!" He feels that happiness never subtracts, but always adds up. This is not true, in Varda's words happiness is "a beautiful fruit that tastes of cruelty".
Agnes Varda takes great pleasure in making films that make people think and deeply question their lives. She is a technical master, always including small details that enhance the quality of each film. For the score she uses the music of Mozart, specifically the Clarinet Quintet,which is incredibly cheerful yet at the same time has a melancholy undertone. Her bold use of colours - bright reds, pastel blues and greens, sunny yellows -also contributes to the happy yet melancholic tone. Her cinematography is perfect, always using framing to her advantage.
In conclusion, Le Bonheur is an extraordinary picture; never have I seen a film so beautiful yet so shocking and subversive. While in most modern movies shallow characters are rewarded, in Varda's world they are punished. Francois replaces one woman with another and continues his life without reflection, guilt, or self-doubt; his blind desire for happiness will never truly work out. Praise it! 5/5
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