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Le Bonheur (1965 film)
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Wikipedia article
'Le Bonheur' ("Happiness") is a 1965 French drama film directed by Agns Varda.Weiler, A. H. (14 May 1966) "[https://movies.nytimes.com/movie/review?res=9507E5DD123DE43BBC4C51DFB366838D679EDE '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. 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.
Plot
Franois, a handsome young joiner working for his uncle, lives a comfortable and happy life married to his pretty wife Thrse, a dressmaker, with whom he has two delightful children, Pierrot and Gisou. The family love outings to the woods outside of town. Although finding abundant happiness in his life and indisputably loving his wife and children, Franois falls for milie, an attractive single woman working in the post office, who has a flat of her own and looks very like Thrse. He does not lie to milie about his happiness with and love for his wife and children, and she accepts his visits.
Picnicking in the woods one weekend, Thrse asks Franois why he seems so particularly happy of late. He explains that all his existing happiness with her and the children is not changed in any way but has been increased by the new happiness he has found with milie. Putting the children to sleep under a tree, Thrse encourages Franois to make love to her. He falls asleep afterwards and, waking up, finds Thrse gone. Searching desperately, he finds her body that anglers have retrieved from the lake.
After a spell in the country, where relatives are looking after the children, Franois returns to work and looks up milie. Soon she is living in his house, looking after him and the children. The family are all very happy together and love to go on outings to the woods outside of town. He has once again found abundant happiness in his life, indisputably loving his new wife and children.
Cast
* Jean-Claude Drouot as Franois
* Claire Drouot as Thrse
* Olivier Drouot as Pierrot
* Sandrine Drouot as Gisou
* Marie-France Boyer as milie Savignard
* Marcelle Faure-Bertin
* Manon Lanclos
* Sylvia Saurel
* Marc Eyraud
* Christian Riehl
* Paul Vecchiali as Paul
Franois' wife and children are played by Jean-Claude Drouot's real-life family in their only film appearances.
Reception
In a 2019 tribute to Agnes 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. Its one of the most terrifying films Ive ever seen." Hamrah called 'Le Bonheur' "Vardas most shocking movie," adding "its deeply subversive and works like a horror film...How many films are truly shocking the way 'Le Bonheur' is? I dont think there are any others." While Heti stated "I dont 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...Its impossible to stop thinking about this ending and what it says about love, life, chaos, and fate."
References
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