
PopGap #17: Le bonheur (1965)
Written by dorrk | 14 May 2016 |
The Movie Slot Machine: 12 Random Movies, One Specific Viewer
Near the end of Agnès Varda's sharp little amorality tale, Le bonheur, I immediately conjured up a series of alternate endings. Rather than indicating a flaw in this potently gorgeous French New Wave drama, however, my inspiration was, instead, a coping mechanism for fending off the movie's direct and stirring assault on conventions.
Real-life spouses Jean-Claude and Claire Drouot star as François and Thérèse, a married couple whose lives seem cloaked in modest bliss: he works in a small shop, she as seamstress. During the week they snuggle into a cozy flat with their two young children (Olivier and Sandrine Drouot, also related) and on weekends escape to picturesque meadows and farms. Although the couple appears to be very much in love, and François is by all appearances an attentive husband and doting father, he decides that monogamy imposes an artificial limit on his family's happiness after flirting with Émilie (Marie-France Boyer), an attractive single postal clerk.
Varda's second feature gets misplaced criticism for its bold depiction of women passively succumbing to male whims, but Varda's intent in Le bonheur seems to be purposefully provocative in that regard: she is questioning the agency of French women in the early 1960s, not reinforcing the norm. Her use of vibrant colors and romantic pastoral settings not only echoes (her husband) Jacques Demy's candied romantic vision but archly presents the question of infidelity through the point-of-view of a man who is innocent to the point of sociopathy in his belief that indulging his selfish sexual desires is a net positive for not only his family but the entire world.
The cinematography in Le bonheur — by first-timer Claude Beausoleil and Umbrellas of Cherbourg D.P. Jean Rabier — is bracingly beautiful, but even more exciting is Janine Verneau's discordant editing, which frequently interrupts Varda's idyllic frames with alarming effect. During the opening credits, sunflowers become invasive harbingers of doom, and the courting and love scenes between François and Émilie are presented in disjointed close-ups. However, Varda doesn't lean too heavily on this more ostentatious artistry. Most of Le bonheur is presented in seemingly simple but immaculately orchestrated long takes, accentuating the movie's perfectly defined spaces as well as François' instinctively predatory nature.
Near the end, Le bonheur takes a turn that might seem too simple by today's standards — and, in the movie's single major flaw, this point is presented neither clearly nor believably — but just as I crafted my own preferred alternate outcomes in response, Varda concocts a masterful final scene that puts the perfect bow on an immaculate heart-shaped package that is full of lushly diabolical surprises.
Trailer for Le bonheur (1965)

Le bonheur (1965)
More info
Full list of all criteria loaded into the Movie Slot Machine for May:
View Movie Selection Rules
I post reviews for all the movies on this blog, and live-tweet most viewings here:
https://twitter.com/popgap
This list is posted to Letterboxd, here:
https://letterboxd.com/dorrk/list/popgap-2016-05-movie-slot-machine/
You can keep track of my Flickchart here:
http://www.flickchart.com/Charts.aspx?user=dorrk
Movie Slot Machine Rules
- Actor: Angela Winkler
- Actor: Anna Karina
- Actor: Anne Baxter
- Actor: Anne Parillaud
- Actor: Anouk Aimée
- Actor: Bulle Ogier
- Actor: Catherine Deneuve
- Actor: Celia Johnson
- Actor: Dorothy Mackaill
- Actor: Franco Nero
- Actor: Humphrey Bogart
- Actor: Ingrid Bergman
- Actor: Irène Jacob
- Actor: Jack Hawkins
- Actor: Jean Gabin
- Actor: Jean Simmons
- Actor: Jean-Louis Trintignant
- Actor: Jeanne Crain
- Actor: Jeffrey Wright
- Actor: Lee Remick
- Actor: Mads Mikkelsen
- Actor: Margaret O'Brien
- Actor: Marie Prevost
- Actor: Marion Cotillard
- Actor: Mary Elizabeth Winstead
- Actor: Mathieu Amalric
- Actor: Max Von Sydow
- Actor: Miriam Hopkins
- Actor: Monica Vitti
- Actor: Patricia Neal
- Actor: Paul Giamatti
- Actor: Robert Ryan
- Actor: Klaus Kinksi
- Actor: Tahar Rahim
- Actor: Taraji P. Henson
- Actor: Teresa Wright
- Actor: Trevor Howard
- Actor: Ursula Andress
- Actor: Viggo Mortensen
- Actor: William Bendix
- Actor: Yasuaki Kurata
- Actor: Daniel Auteiul
- Actor: Michael Shannon
- Actor: Nastassja Kinski
- Actor: Emmanuelle Beart
- Actor: Stéphane Audran
- Actor: Setsuko Hara
- Actor: Isabella Rossellini
- Director: Abbas Kiarostami
- Director: Alfred Hitchcock
- Director: Anthony Mann
- Director: Asghar Farhadi
- Director: Bertrand Tavernier
- Director: Carol Reed
- Director: David Gordon Green
- Director: Don Siegel
- Director: Douglas Sirk
- Director: Eric Rohmer
- Director: Francois Truffaut
- Director: George Sluizer
- Director: Henri-Georges Clouzot
- Director: Hiroshi Teshigahara
- Director: Jacques Audiard
- Director: Jacques Demy
- Director: Jean-Jacques Annaund
- Director: Jean-Luc Godard
- Director: Joe Swanberg
- Director: John Hillcoat
- Director: Joseph Losey
- Director: Jules Dassin
- Director: Kinji Fukasaku
- Director: Kenji Mizoguchi
- Director: Kon Ichikawa
- Director: Leos Carax
- Director: Louis Malle
- Director: Lynn Shelton
- Director: Marcel Carné
- Director: Masaki Kobayashi
- Director: Mathieu Kassovitz
- Director: Max Ophuls
- Director: Michael Winterbottom
- Director: Mike Leigh
- Director: Mikio Naruse
- Director: Paolo Sorrentino
- Director: Ramin Bahrani
- Director: René Clément
- Director: Robert Aldrich
- Director: Robert Bresson
- Director: Roberto Rossellini
- Director: Rouben Mamoulian
- Director: Shane Meadows
- Director: Shion Sono
- Director: Takashi Miike
- Director: Takeshi Kitano
- Director: Terence Davies
- Director: Tobe Hooper
- Director: William A. Wellman
- Director: Agnès Varda
- Director: Jacques Rivette
- Director: Guy Maddin
- Director: Preson Sturges
- Director: Claude Pinoteau
- Watchlist: Random pick from Top 20
- Watchlist: Random pick from Bottom 20
- Watchlist: Random pick from Oldest 20
- Watchlist: Random pick from Newest 20
- Watchlist: Random pick
- Flickchart: 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die
- Flickchart: A.V. Club's the New Cult Canon
- Flickchart: Alamo Drafthouse 100
- Flickchart: Artificial Eye
- Flickchart: BBC's 100 Greatest American Films
- Flickchart: Cahiers du cinéma: Top 10 Lists
- Flickchart: Cannes Caméra d'Or Winning
- Flickchart: Cannes Grand Prix
- Flickchart: Cannes Grand Prix du Festival International du Film
- Flickchart: Cannes Jury Prize
- Flickchart: Cannes Palme d'Or Winning
- Flickchart: Cannes Prix du scénario
- Flickchart: Cannes Prix Un Certain Regard
- Flickchart: Cannon Films
- Flickchart: Complex's 100 Best Movies of the Complex Decade
- Flickchart: Complex's 50 Indie Movies You Need to See Before You Die
- Flickchart: Criterion Eclipse
- Flickchart: David di Donatello Award for Best Film Winning
- Flickchart: Elder's Best Film You've Never Seen
- Flickchart: Elder's Film That Changed My Life
- Flickchart: Empire Magazine's 100 Best Films of World Cinema
- Flickchart: European Film Award for Best Film Nominated
- Flickchart: Facets Video
- Flickchart: Film Comment Selects
- Flickchart: French Syndicate of Cinema Critics Prix Léon Moussinac
- Flickchart: French Syndicate of Cinema Critics Prix Méliès Winning
- Flickchart: Gold Hugo Winning
- Flickchart: Golden Bear for Best Film Winning
- Flickchart: Golden Lion Winning
- Flickchart: Hammer Film Productions
- Flickchart: Independent Spirit Award for Best Film Nominated
- Flickchart: Independent Spirit Award for Best Foreign Film Nominated
- Flickchart: Independent Spirit John Cassavetes Award Winning
- Flickchart: Kino International
- Flickchart: Kino Lorber Studio Classics
- Flickchart: L.A. Noire 'Golden Film Reels' Collection
- Flickchart: Leonard Maltin's 151 Best Movies You've Never Seen
- Flickchart: Little White Lies's 100 Great Movies By Female Directors
- Flickchart: London Film Critics' Circle Award for Film of the Year
- Flickchart: London Film Critics' Circle British Film of the Year Winning
- Flickchart: London Film Critics' Circle Foreign Language Film of the Year Winning
- Flickchart: Lux Prize Nominated
- Flickchart: Masters of Cinema
- Flickchart: Moscow International Film Festival Top Prize Winning
- Flickchart: National Board of Review Award for Best Film Winning
- Flickchart: National Film Registry
- Flickchart: National Society of Film Critics Award for Best Film Winning
- Flickchart: New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best Film Winning
- Flickchart: Online Film Critics Society Award for Best Picture Winning
- Flickchart: Paste Magazine's 100 Best "B Movies" of All Time
- Flickchart: Paste Magazine's 100 Best Documentaries of All Time
- Flickchart: Paste Magazine's 100 Best Film Noirs of All Time
- Flickchart: Paste Magazine's 100 Best Martial Arts Movies of All Time
- Flickchart: Paste Magazine's 100 Best Silent Films of All Time
- Flickchart: Paste Magazine's 40 Best Films from the Netherlands
- Flickchart: Quentin Tarantino's Cinematic Influences
- Flickchart: RKO Pictures
- Flickchart: Roger Ebert's Great Movies
- Flickchart: Rolling Thunder Pictures
- Flickchart: Rue Morgue's 200 Alternative Horror Films You Need To See
- Flickchart: Saturn Award for Best Horror or Thriller Film Nominated
- Flickchart: Saturn Award for Best International Film Nominated
- Flickchart: Saturn Award for Best Science Fiction Film Nominated
- Flickchart: Screamfest Best Picture Winning
- Flickchart: Shaw Brothers Studios
- Flickchart: Shôchiku
- Flickchart: Shout! Factory
- Flickchart: Sight & Sound's Greatest Films of All Time Poll
- Flickchart: Silver Bear Jury Grand Prix Winning
- Flickchart: Slant Magazine's 'Best of the Aughts'
- Flickchart: Slant Magzine's 100 Best Films of the 1990s
- Flickchart: Slant Magzine's 100 Essential Films
- Flickchart: Sony Pictures Classics
- Flickchart: Spike Lee's Essential Film List
- Flickchart: Strand Releasing
- Flickchart: Studio Ghibli
- Flickchart: Sundance Selects
- Flickchart: TCM Underground
- Flickchart: the Cinema Guild
TL/DR
-
Movie:Le bonheur (1965)
-
A.K.A.:Happiness
-
Rating:9/10
Tags
Related Articles
Latest Articles
-
Silver Screen Streak List #22: 03. Me and Orson Welles (2009)
-
Silver Screen Streak List #22: 02. Red Road (2006)
-
Silver Screen Streak List #22: 01. The Warrior (2001)
-
Popgap Diary: 2022 Movies, in Review
-
Silver Screen Streak List #22: The 28 best films of all time you've probably never seen
-
PopGap Diary: Octoblur 2022 is all Oct-Over now, Baby Blue
-
PopGap Diary: Octoblur 2022
-
Silver Screen Streak List #21: 06. The Pride of the Yankees (1942)
-
Silver Screen Streak List #21: 05. Now, Voyager (1942)
POPGAP Projects
-
Silver Screen Streak List #22: The 28 best films of all time you've probably never seen
-
PopGap Diary: Octoblur 2022 is all Oct-Over now, Baby Blue
-
PopGap Diary: Octoblur 2022
-
Silver Screen Streak List #21: Dramas of the 1940s
-
Popgap Diary: 2021 in Review
-
Silver Screen Streak List #20: 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die
-
PopGap Diary: Octoblur 2021 is in the cold, cold ground
-
PopGap Diary: Octoblur 2021
-
Silver Screen Streak List #19: Top Crime Dramas of the 1970s
Popular Articles
-
PopGap Diary: Octoblur 2019
-
Octoblur 2017: Annual Horror-ish Movie Nightmare-a-thon
-
Introducing the Silver Screen Streak movie challenge
-
PopGap #08 Re-cap: Comedies Since 1970
-
Octoblur 2017: R.I.P.!
-
PopGap Diary: Octoblur 2020
-
Octoblur 2015 - It's Over!
-
PopGap #19: Movie Books Special Report
-
Popgap Diary: 2019 in Review