Happiness (1998)

Plot

When a young woman rejects her current overweight suitor in a restaurant, he unexpectedly places a curse on her. The film then moves on to her sisters. One is a happily married woman with a psychiatrist husband and three kids. Unfortunately the husband develops an unnatural fascination for his 11 year old son's male classmates, fantasizes about mass killing in a park, and masturbates to teen magazines. One of his patients has an unrequited fascination for the third sister. Meanwhile the apparently stable 40 year marriage of the sister's parents suddenly unravels when he decides he has had enough and wants to live a hermit's life in Florida.

Review

Jonathan Lethem: 'Solondz's art has something in common with the novels of William Gaddis, or the songs of Bob Dylan: Like those towering American artists, his vision is surpassingly caustic -- even, at times, vindictive. We can certainly yearn for magnificently accusatory artists like these to grow to find a greater sympathy in their work, a greater forgiveness. "Happiness" is so unrelenting that it may prompt such yearnings; I, for one, would be thrilled to see Solondz's heart open in his future work. But it would be a mistake to flinch from the greatness of "Happiness" in the meantime.'

Review

'Sartre's No Exit done over in suburban pastels, Todd Solondz's Happiness is not a subtle film. Solondz is, of course, entitled to his worldview, though it's a profoundly alienating one. Serious topics like child abuse and horrible personal pain probably shouldn't be used as a basis for humor as cheap as this movie's. In the current issue of Filmmaker, Solondz allows that he thought the film would be "unbearable if it were not funny." He's wrong. Because Happiness is funny, it becomes unbearable.'

Clips

The first six minutes (6:00)

The pedophile with a gun scene (1:12)

The teen magazine jerk off scene (1:21)

The 'I'm no good' scene (1:53)

Todd Solondz interviewed about Happiness

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