Film From the Vault: Todd Solondz's Happiness

Sometimes I feel like I watch so many films that I’ve become immune to really feeling a film or being affected by it. I thought films have really rocked me to my core before, but I was wrong. I recently experienced one that shook me up like no other: Todd Solondz’s Happiness.

The 1998 film doesn’t have a strong plot in the classical sense. It focuses on a slice of life from a handful of characters, but not in a Crash or Magnolia kind of way. Perhaps it’s more helpful to say the film focuses on three sisters living in suburban New Jersey and their mother and those surrounding them.

All of the characters in the ensemble film have some level of insecurity and, contrary to the title, most are unhappy. The film doesn’t seem concerned with their pitiful state (Solondz is completely non-judgmental of these characters, which is partly why the film works as well as it does), but rather their pursuit of said happiness. For most of these characters, this happiness usually involves some level of sexual fulfillment or a rejection of it. A character played by Philip Seymour Hoffman calls random women from the phonebook and masturbates while talking to them. Ben Gazzara’s character divorces his wife of forty years not to pursue another relationship, but to simply be alone. Camryn Manheim’s character is disgusted with sex, but longs for a real relationship.

Without any question the most compelling subplot is Dylan Baker’s Bill Maplewood. Bill is a well-respected member of the community, a doctor and father of two. Although he sees a psychologist and is in a sexless marriage, he is relatively happy with his wife. However, unbeknownst to his family and community, he is also a pedophile.

About halfway through this movie, I realized I was watching something special, and I had every intention of writing a full review for it. The way the film straddles the line between drama and comedy (and it is fiercely hilarious at times) is nothing short of brilliant. I don't mean scene to scene, but quite literally line to line. It’s not necessarily the case of "I'm not sure whether to laugh or not" but the reaction to be floored by the drama or burst out in laughter constantly and amazingly shifts fluidly within individual scenes.

It takes a much more tragic turn in the last hour or so that I simply was not expecting. I was a little queasy during the last 40 minutes, and I don't think it's because of Bill Maplewood's actions (which I won’t elaborate on here) per se, but just the escalating and fluctuating dramatic thread that Solondz spins.

Happiness is an example of stellar filmmaking and there are outstanding performances all around. I’m tempted to call Baker’s work in this some of the finest acting of all-time. Baker’s last scenes are so well written and well performed that they may actually change how you feel about someone affected by pedophilia (a phrasing I don’t think I would have even used before viewing this film).

I’ve read that the film is a biting social satire or a dissection of middle-class suburbia, but it seems way above such labels. And if Happiness is these things (which I have to concede it partly is), it is by far the best of these that I’ve seen. Unlike other films that people claim to do the same thing, it does so in a way that doesn’t demean its subjects, and is infinitely more realistic in its portrayal than other such films.

The film is a masterpiece, a term I frequently reject using. For my money, it’s the best film of 1998 and one of the best films of its decade. It’s genuinely hard to watch at a couple instances, but I think it’s entirely worth it. I really can’t recommend it enough, but as I said, it’s not to be taken lightly.

The film is available from the Library Resource Center (DVD 1068) and is available from Netflix.