Nonureva Really Surprised!

Protraph Lack of good storyline.

Tyreece Hulme One of the best movies of the year! Incredible from the beginning to the end.

Phillida Let me be very fair here, this is not the best movie in my opinion. But, this movie is fun, it has purpose and is very enjoyable to watch.

Art Vandelay I'm surprised the release of this movie in America in the 90s compelled some viewers to reconsider Varda's stature as a feminist director. Seems clear to me she was presenting an ironic picture of happiness right off the top, with the colorful spring flowers and the impossibly-in-love couple, set to Mozart. Then the husband starts making faces at the telegraph girl even though his wife has given him no reason to wander. He tries to justify this lack of fidelity as ''love for two women" and of course the mistress buys it. But there's no way the viewer is buying it. Eventually he gets around to telling his wife, but he's not quite as up-front with her as he was with the mistress. But listen to the musical cues. The happy Mozart that has repeated for the first 65 minutes is gone. Replaced by foreboding Mozart. Meanwhile, watch how the wife builds the kids a bona fide sleeping lean-to to keep them safe from park critters while they sleep. Husband tries to spin his self-justifying nonsense with an analogy. She seems doubtful, but he appears to win her over and they make love, then fall asleep. After the tragedy he barely misses a beat before taking up with the mistress again. She's introduced to the kids and they go for a walk in the autumn park setting, now with a Mozart fugue. She tells them, ''I'll build you a house'' and she puts three little sticks together that is basically a 1/25-size version of the protective structure the actual wife had built for them early that summer. She's a fake, in other words. A pretender. An interloper. A pale copy. And what does the husband do? ''I'm going for a walk.'' He's already day-dreaming about wandering off from the mistress/fake-mom. Sure, Varda doesn't spell it out and have characters yell at each other. Or paint him explicitly as a devil. But that's the point. The husband comes in a pleasant, slick, good-looking, superficially loving package. He's a fraud. The mistress is a fraud. They wear matching sunflower yellow cardigans in the final scene, an autumn tone of yellow to mimic the bright spring yellows he and the real wife were rolling around in during the spring park scene. This movie is pure poetry and Varda is a genius.

akoaytao1234 Practically a film about an infidelity, Vagda's Le Bonheur is one truly damning piece that leaves you thinking what does it truly want to say. I would not lie, I had a very difficult time judging what truly this film is about. Its inherent lack of judgment could be considered as a mockery of the masculinity in the discourse of infidelity but in the same time maybe it is much simpler- a documentary of how happiness is like a river that flows and never looks back. That being said, the film just truly leaves a mark. It keeps you fazed by the fact that the common place sensationalism that tends to inhibit these kind of tales is non-existent in this film. The line of what is right or wrong is never truly set and emotions are hidden under sheets of plastic beauty. In the end, time is the only constant thing that never change. Vagda's Le Bonheur is an enigma. It never tells but is always ready to show you whats up.

dbdumonteil A thing non-French users may not know:at the time,the male star,Jean-Claude Drouot was the brats' hero,Thierry la Fronde ,a miniseries where he portrayed a young French noble fighting against the "villains" (eg: the English) during the Hundred Years war.Casting the whole Drouot family (husband,wife,and children who all keep their first names in real life) was a risqué move for the sixties;And involving daddy in adultery was not particularly what they call "playing safe" ;and proving that the pursuit of happiness is legitimate and normal,even if they 've got someone's blood on their hands,it takes the biscuit..Pastel colors and the delightful cinematography display Varda's husband,Jacques Demy 's influence;the first part shows everyday life in a way both realistic and poetic.But ,sincerely,frank,I would not have expected that from feminist Varda.

hphillips Similar in many ways to the fantastic "Cléo de 5 à 7", a charming, mature and playful look at temptation and marriage.Not only great for it's chromatic & musical scales (color-fades, very colorful scenes are organized like moments withing a musical composition), the dialogues are right on as well - at first, it might seem a little 'sappy', but with 15minutes, you're enraptured!