Review of A Happy Event

The film's honesty can at times be hilarious, sensual, and painful. As you watch the lively young couple from act 1 morph into something unrecognizable, you can't help but feel despair. Only once the couple has reached rock-bottom can they begin to re-emerge, learning how to become themselves again. As Nico attempts to become the breadwinner, he slowly becomes cold and callous, unsympathetic to Barb and nothing like his former self. Barb becomes isolated, barely talking to her friends and even Nico, making Lea her life. Louise Bourgoin does a wonderful job of expressing the anguish her character feels, through blank stares and tears. I love the way this film explores postpartum depression in a real way, and how as the characters gradually have their love drained out of them, so does the color and light of the film, leaving only a blue-gray tone. Only when Barb begins to heal with the help of her mother, and Nico's gradual understanding of Barb's pain as he attempts to fulfill Barb's former role does warmth enter the screen again, signaling a new beginning for both her and Nico. A simple story in the sense it is a common occurrence in life, but extremely well executed.