So,Agnes Verda is considered a legend of filmmaking and I guess after enjoying Fces Places quite a lot... her films shall be interesting. So, I watched "La Bonheur" and I have to say that there a lot of things that are beautiful in this one.
At first, the story is really interesting and it's theme is clear, its about craving happiness and feeling happy and when you do... more happy. How can we difine we are happy?Isn't happyness just a state of mind that goes away after a while?How much happyness can we get till we fall into sadness.
At first, we view the family's every day life. It's gorgeous, almost ideal, seems like The American Dream coming true. Children, nice house, good work, beautiful town and trips in the countryside, cinema nights and dance clubs. We start as plain observers of this family and I started wondering if it's about thec whole family or if it will give emphasis on one person, if it will have a main character to follow. And it did, the father of the family, is a happy, with capital h, working man who enjoys living, nature, his wive's love and his children's chreerfulness. He looks like a complete man and he might be, if anyone has ever reached perfection or completion of the soul. But, his happiness turns double when he meets another woman and instantly falls into her arms without even questioning the ethical choice behind it or his wive's emotions. It sounds mean, I know. But, there's the cool part about it. The whole film makes the character really fun and nice and kind of reletable.
The actor is charming and his sympathetical and joyful presence is enough to make us avoid critisism about his bold choices. Also, it's not that he is extremelly reckless or mean or evil or dump or anything. The story establishes that he just view life from his one, tiny window of thought. To him happyness is all we want and all we ever ask for. We want a perosn to love and be loved by, a tasty meal, a life with nature and peace, children to give as life and joy, a job to make us forget and provide us a steady life and then we are complete. That is a human and undresndable thought. The thing about the character though, is that this idea about happiness is the only one he believes in and even if he manages to have it, he wants more of it. Because if he can be more happy, why shouldn't he?
It is a pretty pleasant and simple way to live life, but underneath it lies an unctrollable ego, one that blinds the man and makes him ignore thec ethos in his acts. He never really thinks abour others, but only about his sole enjoyment and if others are happy too, he just keeps doing what he does. To him his life is a simple and big quest to personal happiness.
He also makes no total discrete between his love's. Yes, he loves them in different ways, the one is more passionate and new and exciting and sexy and the other is more pure nad understanable and common, it's like a love he always had been feeling and never faded. His love and care is of equal amount and that makes him kind of more of a nice guy.
Verda also hinges on sex rights and how interchangable women were. Their lives might be happy and full of life and people, but their chances in life and the space to express themselves and show themselves was minimum. A woman couldn't love a lot of men, she had to be devoted and Verda never loses her feminstic character.
The look of the film gives it another layer. The colors attack the screen and fill it with emotion and tone. We get lush greens, minimal and moody blues, flaming reds, sweet yellows and they give the film a life of its own. It really looked like a happy life.
Also, Verda pays attention to keeping clear that humans and nature share both a story of joy and bitterness and are entwined in this vast quest. From the huge and dream-like countryside that the family casually visits to ease, to the consant shots showing colorful flowers in pots, natue is everywhere in reality. The best example would be the dance sequence where our hero shares a dance with both of his love's and and the camera moves fastly from one side to the other to show the romantic moments they all share, while a tree trank splits the two dance groups into two sides.
Another great touch is Verda's desire to match the colour's of nature and flowers and trees and seasons with the character's clothes and by extension to their mood and emotions.
Verda also loves fade outs fade ins and with them she resonates dream-like quality, like the film blends the reality of loving and living everyday life with the immersive and ephemeral feeling of a memory or view fading away in time... It is true but it has a farytale's viewpoint too anf that makes it a film too good for its time.
Some of the edtiting, especially those really fast edits in the apartment, seem way too much and kind of weird for no reason and i would prefer a more clear portrayal of the main character in the last act, although he is still a greatly developed one. This film might often feel like it's going nowwhere, but it really knows what it's doing. Also, how many times do they mention the word happyness in them movie? Need to do a countdown now.
In the end, I feel like it is a movie thst tells us to love life with what is given and if we want more, we might lose a lot in the end, even if we manage to rise again. You can't have everything in life, it's too short and hard to manage to live it at its fullest. I don't know something like that.
Watch it ,hope you enjoy it and please don't cheat your love's unless the paramour is waaaay too hot.
byeeeeeee!
At first, we view the family's every day life. It's gorgeous, almost ideal, seems like The American Dream coming true. Children, nice house, good work, beautiful town and trips in the countryside, cinema nights and dance clubs. We start as plain observers of this family and I started wondering if it's about thec whole family or if it will give emphasis on one person, if it will have a main character to follow. And it did, the father of the family, is a happy, with capital h, working man who enjoys living, nature, his wive's love and his children's chreerfulness. He looks like a complete man and he might be, if anyone has ever reached perfection or completion of the soul. But, his happiness turns double when he meets another woman and instantly falls into her arms without even questioning the ethical choice behind it or his wive's emotions. It sounds mean, I know. But, there's the cool part about it. The whole film makes the character really fun and nice and kind of reletable.
The actor is charming and his sympathetical and joyful presence is enough to make us avoid critisism about his bold choices. Also, it's not that he is extremelly reckless or mean or evil or dump or anything. The story establishes that he just view life from his one, tiny window of thought. To him happyness is all we want and all we ever ask for. We want a perosn to love and be loved by, a tasty meal, a life with nature and peace, children to give as life and joy, a job to make us forget and provide us a steady life and then we are complete. That is a human and undresndable thought. The thing about the character though, is that this idea about happiness is the only one he believes in and even if he manages to have it, he wants more of it. Because if he can be more happy, why shouldn't he?
It is a pretty pleasant and simple way to live life, but underneath it lies an unctrollable ego, one that blinds the man and makes him ignore thec ethos in his acts. He never really thinks abour others, but only about his sole enjoyment and if others are happy too, he just keeps doing what he does. To him his life is a simple and big quest to personal happiness.
He also makes no total discrete between his love's. Yes, he loves them in different ways, the one is more passionate and new and exciting and sexy and the other is more pure nad understanable and common, it's like a love he always had been feeling and never faded. His love and care is of equal amount and that makes him kind of more of a nice guy.
Verda also hinges on sex rights and how interchangable women were. Their lives might be happy and full of life and people, but their chances in life and the space to express themselves and show themselves was minimum. A woman couldn't love a lot of men, she had to be devoted and Verda never loses her feminstic character.
The look of the film gives it another layer. The colors attack the screen and fill it with emotion and tone. We get lush greens, minimal and moody blues, flaming reds, sweet yellows and they give the film a life of its own. It really looked like a happy life.
Also, Verda pays attention to keeping clear that humans and nature share both a story of joy and bitterness and are entwined in this vast quest. From the huge and dream-like countryside that the family casually visits to ease, to the consant shots showing colorful flowers in pots, natue is everywhere in reality. The best example would be the dance sequence where our hero shares a dance with both of his love's and and the camera moves fastly from one side to the other to show the romantic moments they all share, while a tree trank splits the two dance groups into two sides.
Another great touch is Verda's desire to match the colour's of nature and flowers and trees and seasons with the character's clothes and by extension to their mood and emotions.
Verda also loves fade outs fade ins and with them she resonates dream-like quality, like the film blends the reality of loving and living everyday life with the immersive and ephemeral feeling of a memory or view fading away in time... It is true but it has a farytale's viewpoint too anf that makes it a film too good for its time.
Some of the edtiting, especially those really fast edits in the apartment, seem way too much and kind of weird for no reason and i would prefer a more clear portrayal of the main character in the last act, although he is still a greatly developed one. This film might often feel like it's going nowwhere, but it really knows what it's doing. Also, how many times do they mention the word happyness in them movie? Need to do a countdown now.
In the end, I feel like it is a movie thst tells us to love life with what is given and if we want more, we might lose a lot in the end, even if we manage to rise again. You can't have everything in life, it's too short and hard to manage to live it at its fullest. I don't know something like that.
Watch it ,hope you enjoy it and please don't cheat your love's unless the paramour is waaaay too hot.
byeeeeeee!