Pedro Almodovar's latest, his thirteenth feature, is probably his best movie to date. Tragic yet touching, the film tells the tale of a mother, Manuela, whose son, Esteban, dies in a car accident at the beginning of the movie. Driven close to madness due to this tragedy, she leaves Madrid in search of Esteban's father, whom she has not seen in seventeen years. Arriving in Barcelona, she meets Agrado, a transsexual prostitute, and becomes caught up in the lives of a young nun, Sister Rosa, and a fading actress, Huma Rojo, who desperately needs love and attention from somebody.
Compared to his earlier work, Almodovar seems so much more comfortable with his script here, and the vivid colours and outlandish decor from his earlier films are thankfully absent. He simply concentrates on telling an intelligent, thoughtful tale which mainly concentrates on the effects of age and death without feeling any need to shock the audience with over the top visuals.
But it is the simple fact that the script is so intelligent, so well constructed and paced, that you are drawn in to this movie and it's bizarre collection of characters without even noticing. Tenessee William's famous play 'A Streetcar Named Desire' is performed by Rosa (and, at one point, Manuela too) throughout the film, and it's themes of female abandonment, and control by violence, echo throughout the film. But it also invites comparisons, and the clearest of these is how strong women are in a world without men, how men are simply not needed for a fulfilling life. Manuela is able to recover from the death of her son, Huma able to achieve some sort of happiness, because they are all able to connect with each other, and, eventually, to share each others pain.
Infact there are very few 'normal' male characters in the film, but the film only benefits from this. This is a film that allows female characters to shine, to actually exist. It's closure is extremely satisfying, the performances incredible, and the direction never gets in the ways of a beautiful, almost haunting tale. One of the best of this year, and any year.
With a title like 'Happiness' it is of no surprise that the film contains little material that is not darkly subversive and at times depressing. Todd Solondz's second film bears many similarities with his first, Welcome to the Dollhouse, both being shot in New Jersey where Solondz grew up, and according to Solondz on the excellent official website, both explore 'the demonick side of our nature'. But Happiness benefits from a larger budget than Welcome to the Dollhouse, and whilst both films have complicated closures, Happiness is the better film, for it explores similar ideas of alienation and general confusion with society from an adult perspective, and benefits greatly.
The film details the life of Joy Jordan (Jane Adams II) a helplessly fragile woman who is constantly taken advantage of, and her two Sisters and the people they become involved with. These mainly include people they have relationships with, or with whom they are attempting to have relationships with. Nearly all of the characters have sexual problems, whether it being simply trying to find a sexual partner, or trying to find the right sexual partner. Problematically the film deals with a sexual deviance, that being the story of Bill Maplewood (who is married to Trish, Joy's Sister) who struggles throughout the film to deal with his sexual feelings towards Children. Throughout this the Sister's parents fail to offer a model of stability as the father (Ben Gazzara) leaves his wife in search of sexual adventures.
The film becomes more complicated as it deals with a single character, Phillip Seymour Hoffman's excellent if repulsive portrayle of desperate loner Allen, who faces a mixture of sexual problems, deriving sexual pleasure from making offensive phone calls, one of which is to Joy's Sister, Helen (Lara Flynn Boyle), who is initially attracted to the mystery caller. In Allen we are shown clearly and sympathetically how sexual deviance aand the lack of any sexual partners can affect an individual.
The film courted much controversy on it's release due to its handling of taboo subjects, and no review of Happiness could fail to comment in detail on the story of Bill Maplewood and his wife Trish. This is the first film (to my knowledge) to deal so openly and sympathetically with the admittedly difficult subject of paedophilia, and reveals the film's chief strength. It is sympathetic to all of its characters, refusing to put them in a negative light simply because of a sexual preference that they can neither control or resist. Dylan Baker gives an amazing performance as the Father struggling to come to terms with his sexual feelings towards children yet who is caring and kind to his own son. The scene in which he discusses his feelings with his son is touching and heartfelt, despite the subject matter.
Solondz clearly does not wish simply to condemn, but explore the darker side of sexuality, and show that all of us are victims of sexuality in one way or another. And in not automatically condemning paedophillia, Solondz also suggests that its effects do not necessarily destory a child's life. The final scene of the movie shows son Billy Mapplewood masturbating over a bathing beauty, and then announcing to his family that he has just ejaculated (for the first time), suggesting he will not grow up as sexually dysfunctional as a result of his Father's actions, a strangely upbeat finale.
It is hard to single out individual performances, as all our strong, but apart from Dylan Baker, special mention must be made of Phillip Seymour Hoffman and Jane Addams II, all of whom mix fragility with desperation as they seek happiness in their lives. That they all receive glimpses of such happiness, moments where they are able to connect with others, but that all our short lived, makes their lives seem all the more tragic. In ending the film with the main characters discussing their lives clearly suggests that there is no ending, other than death or imprisonment, to the constantly difficult situations that must, need, to be faced. But all seem stronger, more able to cope, and this is the hope that Solondz leaves us at the end of the film.
The film is traditionally shot, with no fast cuts or any of the influences of new wave cinema that seems to ground indie cinema. Rather Solondz presents the events of the film in a calm, controlled way, allowing characters uncomfortable silences and difficult moments that are rarely seen in traditional American cinema, which all adds to the realistic and affecting presentation of difficult sexual subjects. The movie is clearly orientated towards the arthouse audience, and demands an intelligent response, something usually avoided by the big studio's. Indeed my only criticism of the film lies with Lara Flynn Boyle, Helen Jordan, who has failed to develop on the promise she showed in Lynch's Twin Peaks, and is cold, static, and the only character who is wholly unsympathetic. Yet it is not this alone. She simply does not seem as natural and as realistic as the rest of the cast, nearly all of whom are playing characters with dysfunctions far worse than hers.
Happiness is one of the most interesting and important films of this decade, and Todd Solondz in writing and directing the film is a major new independent talent. Intelligently written, thought provoking, and beautifully portrayed, the misery of the characters in Happiness should be seen as a lesson to us all, suggesting that however horrific a person's actions may seem to be, there is a human being within struggling to make sense of the world. And in leaving the closure open, Solondz does not pretend to have all the answers. But he is clearly asking the right questions. (AF)
It could so easily have been another Fierce Creatures. This reprise of Four Weddings and a Funeral had little chance of surpassing it's much loved , highly profitable predecessor. But it did anyway. Everything about this film is right. Hugh Grant as a divorced bookseller? Perfect. Julia Roberts as an attractive but screwed up superstar? Tremendous. Rhys Ifans as a Welsh git? Spot on. Andie MacDowell as a useless actress not cast in the film? Jackpot! Now, Four Weddings was funny, but Notting Hill strips away at some of that good-natured postcard-England Whimsy to become a film with more substance. Okay, it's no Citizen Kane for depth and complexity, but there again, Kane is no Notting Hill for humour or warmth. Julia Roberts has a sensational scene with Grant towards the end of the film which is as affecting as anything you'll see this year.
All the British Characters in Notting Hill are resonant in a way you really don't expect from British Cinema. There's none of the over familiar northern grit / social realism bollocks or the comparably fantastical cast of aristocrats going around in top hats and monocles drinking Earl Grey tea and discussing the price of tweed. The supporting cast in this movie are people who vaguely resemble the majority of late twentieth-century Brtis.
Okay, so a lot's been made of the absensce of black people in Notting Hill, but you have to remember that the writer of the film, Richard Curtis, actually lives there, and presuming he's not actually a white supremacist, he's cleverly decided to forego AA-advert style tokenism is favour of a reflection of a reality recognisable to him. Not every film can appease every pressure group, and anyway, in most cases it's best to just say 'sod you' to them. Notting Hill is not racist. If it had a minor character called 'Nigger Nigel' who had the odd witty conversation with Grant whilst shining his shoes and cleaning his toilet, that might be worth complaining about. As it is, Notting Hill does not reflect black experience. Full stop. Move on.
This film is gold dust. it's like the polar opposite of a Francis Ford Coppola comedy, only possibly not as good as that since Coppola is so bad at them it's untrue. Notting Hill is, so far, my film of the year. But there again, I actually really liked Fierce Creatures, so perhaps you should disregard everything I've just said. (CD)
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