On the surface, "Happiness is in the Field" belongs to that realm of French slices of lives Etienne Chatillez specialized in, he who painted such humorous and sociologically relevant portraits since his breakthrough movie "Life is a Long Quiet River". Indeed, watching a Chatillez film is always a premise for delightful character-driven escapism, and on that level, the title couldn't have been more evocative. We all seek happiness but Chatillez does better, he provides us the answer. "The nerve!" I want to protest
as I felt that (this time) the director lost the charm, wit and tenderness of his previous films and seems more presumptuous than usual.
The film tells the story of a man on the verge of a nervous breakdown. Francis, played by Michel Serrault, gets a visit from the IRS, a strike from the employees of his plumbing supply factory and the daily snobbish rudeness of his uptight wife Nicole (Sabine Azema) and his spoiled daughter. The only thing he doesn't get yet is cancer but health troubles are coming. The only oasis of fun is with his friend Gérard aka "Gégé", a character with an appetite for food and wine only equaled by his lust for women. The way he tenderly calls Francis "honey bunny" is misleading as the film quickly clears any hint of homoerotic subtext. Gégé gets any woman he wants easily, too easily sometimes as easily as when he orders the house's finest wine. But I'll get back to the film's latent machismo.
So, Francis is having a hard time and it is no real surprise when in the midst of a lunch with Gégé, his face takes a high plunge into the plate. Francis has a stroke and this is the first signal of his imminent mortality, especially if he stays on the same stress-inducing and self-deprecating path. And in these twists of Karma so typical of Chatillez, one night during his convalescence, he watches a TV program where Dolores, a duck breeder, of Spanish ancestry (she's played by Carmen Maura) comes with her two adult daughters, to issue a missing person's notice and expose the picture of the father and husband, Michel, who disappeared twenty-six years ago. Naturally, he looks exactly like Francis. Nicole's hysterical outburst was the first of the many over-the-top moments that left me puzzled.
Francis' first reaction is denial but after an interview with a sleazy journalist played by Patrick Bouchitey, and under the pressure of his staff, family and friends, Francis finally decides to pretend that he's Michel and starts a new life "in the field". And of course, it's a rebirth. But Chatillez is rather stingy on explanations and many parts are left unexplained, we never know why Nicole goes all cuckoo about it, we never know what Francis said to the Spanish woman so they could get together, it's all in the situations, and the acting. But while his ellipses usually work with his films, in a story full of such enigmatic characters, it feels like cheating. And it gets worse when Gérard takes the abandoned Nicole to a restaurant.
I'm not the one who usually cries for wolf when it comes to feminist issues, but I've never seen a movie so blatantly misogynistic. I used to hate the snotty attitude of Nicole but then seeing her being bullied by Gégé and becoming a "better" woman just because he banged her in the car as if it was the only way to break the ice, and calling her ugly names, because she "likes it". I know it isn't supposed to be a statement about women, and the rudeness of Gégé's manners also annoyed his friend, but there's a sort of consensus that the best way to reach happiness is to overcome the social barriers we have between us, even if the price is vulgarity. Or is it a metaphor from the title and happiness consist also on acting like farm animals.
In another scene, Francis only learns the shady truth about his alter-ego's criminal past when, following the advice of Gégé (who else?), he slaps the sweet and devoted Dolores, and I simply hated that part. Is it supposed to be a turning point for the man who's been a weakling until that point? It is difficult to appreciate how mean-spirited the film is toward women for the sake of Francis' character's arc. In the end, you have two wives agreeing on keeping things secret because each one found equilibrium; both were treated badly in a way or another but they liked it. It happened very rarely to me but I related to these women and I felt sorry for them. Chatillez is free to toy with his characters and I'm not saying such women wouldn't exist but I felt hard to empathize with both Francis and Gégé, and this comes from someone who's tired of the whole 'Girl Power' trend.
"Happiness is in the Field" should have been a bowl of fresh air for me, and I think it could have made these bold and deliberately vulgar moves interesting if the film didn't feel so empty at some points, it seems like we never grew to know more the people except in stereotypical situations. I accept that happiness would be on the field but I wish the journey was a bit more interesting and wouldn't lend credence to those who see misogyny everywhere. Well, this film does and out of all the French directors, I'm sad that it comes from the one who made a gem like "Tatie Danielle". Happiness might be on the field, but this one left me bitter, and angry.
(On a side note, the title inspired a famous French program where farmers and peasants try to find the true love and it was called "Love is in the field", proof that Chatillez still had the flair to find expressions or name that would enter everyday speech).
The film tells the story of a man on the verge of a nervous breakdown. Francis, played by Michel Serrault, gets a visit from the IRS, a strike from the employees of his plumbing supply factory and the daily snobbish rudeness of his uptight wife Nicole (Sabine Azema) and his spoiled daughter. The only thing he doesn't get yet is cancer but health troubles are coming. The only oasis of fun is with his friend Gérard aka "Gégé", a character with an appetite for food and wine only equaled by his lust for women. The way he tenderly calls Francis "honey bunny" is misleading as the film quickly clears any hint of homoerotic subtext. Gégé gets any woman he wants easily, too easily sometimes as easily as when he orders the house's finest wine. But I'll get back to the film's latent machismo.
So, Francis is having a hard time and it is no real surprise when in the midst of a lunch with Gégé, his face takes a high plunge into the plate. Francis has a stroke and this is the first signal of his imminent mortality, especially if he stays on the same stress-inducing and self-deprecating path. And in these twists of Karma so typical of Chatillez, one night during his convalescence, he watches a TV program where Dolores, a duck breeder, of Spanish ancestry (she's played by Carmen Maura) comes with her two adult daughters, to issue a missing person's notice and expose the picture of the father and husband, Michel, who disappeared twenty-six years ago. Naturally, he looks exactly like Francis. Nicole's hysterical outburst was the first of the many over-the-top moments that left me puzzled.
Francis' first reaction is denial but after an interview with a sleazy journalist played by Patrick Bouchitey, and under the pressure of his staff, family and friends, Francis finally decides to pretend that he's Michel and starts a new life "in the field". And of course, it's a rebirth. But Chatillez is rather stingy on explanations and many parts are left unexplained, we never know why Nicole goes all cuckoo about it, we never know what Francis said to the Spanish woman so they could get together, it's all in the situations, and the acting. But while his ellipses usually work with his films, in a story full of such enigmatic characters, it feels like cheating. And it gets worse when Gérard takes the abandoned Nicole to a restaurant.
I'm not the one who usually cries for wolf when it comes to feminist issues, but I've never seen a movie so blatantly misogynistic. I used to hate the snotty attitude of Nicole but then seeing her being bullied by Gégé and becoming a "better" woman just because he banged her in the car as if it was the only way to break the ice, and calling her ugly names, because she "likes it". I know it isn't supposed to be a statement about women, and the rudeness of Gégé's manners also annoyed his friend, but there's a sort of consensus that the best way to reach happiness is to overcome the social barriers we have between us, even if the price is vulgarity. Or is it a metaphor from the title and happiness consist also on acting like farm animals.
In another scene, Francis only learns the shady truth about his alter-ego's criminal past when, following the advice of Gégé (who else?), he slaps the sweet and devoted Dolores, and I simply hated that part. Is it supposed to be a turning point for the man who's been a weakling until that point? It is difficult to appreciate how mean-spirited the film is toward women for the sake of Francis' character's arc. In the end, you have two wives agreeing on keeping things secret because each one found equilibrium; both were treated badly in a way or another but they liked it. It happened very rarely to me but I related to these women and I felt sorry for them. Chatillez is free to toy with his characters and I'm not saying such women wouldn't exist but I felt hard to empathize with both Francis and Gégé, and this comes from someone who's tired of the whole 'Girl Power' trend.
"Happiness is in the Field" should have been a bowl of fresh air for me, and I think it could have made these bold and deliberately vulgar moves interesting if the film didn't feel so empty at some points, it seems like we never grew to know more the people except in stereotypical situations. I accept that happiness would be on the field but I wish the journey was a bit more interesting and wouldn't lend credence to those who see misogyny everywhere. Well, this film does and out of all the French directors, I'm sad that it comes from the one who made a gem like "Tatie Danielle". Happiness might be on the field, but this one left me bitter, and angry.
(On a side note, the title inspired a famous French program where farmers and peasants try to find the true love and it was called "Love is in the field", proof that Chatillez still had the flair to find expressions or name that would enter everyday speech).