Happiness movie storyline. A woman breaks up with her boyfriend, he thinks it’s because he’s fat. A man is unable to tell her next door neighbor he finds her sexually attractive. An old couple wants to split up, but they don’t want to get a divorce. A therapist masturbates to teen magazines.
An 11 year old kid is insecure about the fact that he hasn’t cum yet. Office workers try to recall the face of a coworker who recently died. A woman is sure she has everything she could ever want. The lives of these individuals intertwine as they go about their lives in their own unique ways, engaging in acts society as a whole might find disturbing in a desperate search for human connection.
Happiness is a 1998 American comedy-drama film written and directed by Todd Solondz, that portrays the lives of three sisters, their families and those around them. The film was awarded the FIPRESCI Prize at the 1998 Cannes Film Festival for “its bold tracking of controversial contemporary themes, richly-layered subtext, and remarkable fluidity of visual style,” and the cast received the National Board of Review award for best ensemble performance.
About the Story
Trish Maplewood, the eldest Jordan sister, is an upper middle class housewife married to psychiatrist Bill Maplewood and has three children. She appears to have the perfect marriage, but she is unaware of Bill’s secret life: he is a pedophile who is obsessed with 11-year-old Johnny Grasso, a classmate of their son, Billy. When Johnny comes to the Jordan house for a sleepover, Bill drugs and rapes him.
Later, Bill learns that another boy, Ronald Farber, is home alone while his parents are away in Europe. Under the guise of attending a PTA meeting, Bill drives to the boy’s house and rapes him as well. After Johnny is taken to the hospital and found to have been sexually abused, the police arrive at the Maplewood residence to question Bill.
After alerting his wife to the police presence, Bill begins by asking the two detectives, “You said something about Ronald Farber?” The two detectives, looking puzzled, say nothing. Bill then stammers, “I mean, Johnny Grasso.” Out on bail, he tearfully admits to Billy that he “fucked” the boys, that he enjoyed it, and that he would do it again. When Billy asks, “Would you ever fuck me?”, his father replies, “No… I’d jerk off instead.”
Helen Jordan, the middle sister, is a successful author who is adored and envied by everyone she knows, and can have any man she wants. Her charmed life leaves her ultimately unfulfilled, however. She despairs that no one wants her for herself, and that the praise regularly heaped upon her is undeserved.
She is fascinated by an unknown man who makes obscene phone calls to her apartment and tries to seek out a relationship with him. But she is disappointed when she finds out the man is her neighbor Allen, to whom she is not attracted. Allen—who is coincidentally one of Bill’s patients—sinks into depression as Helen’s rejection ruins his fantasies, and he realizes that a woman who truly cares for him, Kristina, has been right under his nose all along.
Happiness (1998)
Directed by: Todd Solondz
Starring: Jane Adams, Elizabeth Ashley, Dylan Baker, Lara Flynn Boyle, Ben Gazzara, Jared Harris, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Louise Lasser, Cynthia Stevenson
Screenplay by: Todd Solondz
Production Design by: Thérèse DePrez
Cinematography by: Maryse Alberti
Film Editing by: Alan Oxman
Costume Design by: Kathryn Nixon
Set Decoration by: Nick Evans
Art Direction by: John Bruce
Music by: Robbie Kondor
Distributed by: Good Machine Releasing
Release Date: October 16, 1998
Hits: 127
