It's been a long time since I watched something meaty. The closest to "something meaty" was Punch Drunk Love and I watched that almost 3 months ago. All around me there mostly seemed to be noise. Whatever was not noise, also seemed like noise by extension of association. The only way, I was sure, that I could find something substantial was if I looked at old films. So, I logged into Mubi yesterday and scrolled through their top 1000 films and a film poster caught my eye: noticeable yellow sunflowers against some blur/fuzz.
I am sensitive to the colourscheme of whatever I watch. It takes usually a minute or so for me to understand the mood that the colours in a film/tv series are trying to create. If the colours don't match what I am looking for, I abandon that viewing. Le Bonheur was not such a case. It seemed to sit perfectly in the space that I was looking for.
The synopsis says that it's a movie about a man, Francois, who falls in love with a postal worker while being happily married.
I enjoy thorough explorations of human relationships and infidelity explored in art holds a close place in my heart. That coupled with the colourscheme and Agnes Varda (director whose work I've been waiting to see) made me go ahead.
So, Le Bonheur is true to its name. It's not about an extramarital affair, or love. It's not about the family structure, its dissolution and reorganization. It's simply about happiness. Each character is not a character but a tool in Varda's hand to point the camera towards happiness, or rather one's search for it.
Francois is the everyman. His location in France is not very relevant. Neither is his life. He could be anyone who lives that life of idyllic bliss, having slipped into the happiness of domestic life, routines, and the joys of simple living. But simple living isn't enough. When happiness is what drives you, you search for more happiness. And so, Francois does. He realizes he finds more happiness when he interacts with a new woman, loves her, and spends time with her. He is not a changed man. He is more himself as he says. And his lover understands that he loves his wife, children and the life he has. She agrees that she too likes their relationship as is... that he makes her happy. In the small town where they live, the lover and the wife's paths almost cross but never quite. As an audience, you are made aware of the proximity of their existence. But the happy colours, abundance of sunflowers, dancing, champagne, printed dresses, and pleasant background music keep you at a distance from any sense of foreboding.
Move to Francois and his wife's usual weekend picnic in the countryside where he confides in her about his lover. She is taken aback but says she understands and likes seeing him more happy than he used to be. Elated at being accepted and understood, Francois kisses her. They kiss each other, make love, and fall asleep. The scene breaks with the children calling for their mother. She is nowhere to be found.
Has she given up her responsibilities, had one last passionate lovemaking session, and left, I wonder. No, she has drowned herself...
Francois holds her still body and then makes plans of taking care of their kids, moves on in his life, informs his lover that he is leaving, comes back after some months, and sets up a home with her. The scenes become similar to the ones at the start: children being taken care of, driving to the woods, closeness and intimacy, and then the family walking together in the woods.
Le Bonheur is not about the people or the family or each individual. It's an exploration of a pursuit of an ideal or feeling. After Francois' wife Therese's death, Francois tells his lover that he misses Therese very much but still wants to be happy. And that's what it really is about.
It was an interesting film to watch. There were photographs mixed in with camera footage, close ups of signs on the street carrying words like Trust and Insurance melded in with scenes of flesh against flesh, the colours (truly spectacular the colours) and all these for me created an atmosphere where I was at the surface of all experiences chasing one thing: happiness.
Comments