Le Bonheur

+ intro by film critic Christina Newland

Happiness

Radical, provocative and one of Agnès Varda’s most piercing works, Le Bonheur embraces a painterly palette to examine a marriage during the sexual revolution.

  • Director

    Agnès Varda

  • With

    Jean-Claude Drouot, Claire Drouot, Marie-France Boyer

  • France 1964. 80min

  • Digital

  • Certificate

    15

  • English subtitles

A pioneer member of the Left Bank group of the French New Wave, Agnès Varda was an acute observer of human behaviour, perfectly showcased in this deconstruction of the nuclear family. Thérèse and François seem to live in marital bliss, but when he begins an affair with another woman, supposedly enhancing their mutual enjoyment, the outcome will be startling. Sensual and devastating, it’s a brilliant takedown of male entitlement.

Diana Cipriano

See other screenings of Le Bonheur.