Anne Sewitsky’s HAPPY, HAPPY examines complex relationships during a Norwegian winter
HAPPY, HAPPY (Anne Sewitsky, 2010)
Landmark Sunshine Cinema, 143 East Houston St., 212-330-8182
Beekman Theatre, 1271 Second Ave., 212-585-4141
Opens Friday, September 16
www.magpictures.com/happyhappy
We’re deeply troubled by Norwegian director Anne Sewitsky’s terrific debut feature, Happy, Happy. After watching the poignant, highly emotional drama about Kaia (Agnes Kittelsen), a young mother whose husband, Eirik (Joachim Rafaelsen), refuses to have sex with her and instead goes off on questionable hunting expeditions; whose new neighbor, Sigve (Henrik Rafaelsen), is surprisingly drawn to her after moving with his family to get over his wife Elisabeth’s (Maibritt Saerens) recent affair; and whose young son plays Simon Legree to Sigve’s and Elisabeth’s adopted Ethiopian child, we were thinking more along the lines of Aki Kaurismäki’s Match Factory Girl than Mike Leigh’s Happy-Go-Lucky, but the film’s press notes and reviews are filled to the brim with the word comedy. Well, of course, nothing could be quite as dark as Match Factory Girl, one of the bleakest films ever made, nor can a character be quite as cheerful as Sally Hawkins’s ever-optimistic Poppy, but is Happy, Happy really a comedy? Perhaps it doesn’t make a difference what you call it; all that matters is it is an offbeat, well-written, well-acted tale of relationships being torn apart, of dominance and revenge, of a simple woman who just wants to be happy (and to sing in a choir) despite the enormous roadblocks that keep getting in her way. But a comedy? We’re going to have to watch it again and let you know.