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Happiness Is No Joke

1995 · 85 min

A wry, melancholic drift through Paris, observing human folly with a jaundiced eye and quiet detachment.

Overview
What there is of a plot in this drama serves mainly as a vehicle for the exploration of character. In the story, Michel (Bernard-Pierre Donnadieu) is a recent widower. As the story opens, he and his friend Andre (Philippe Nahon) are sharing a drink on Christmas Eve. He takes a yellow scarf from a woman he knows (Laura Morante) and teasingly refuses to return it. Throughout the remainder of the film, the scarf reappears, as does the woman, until they wind up in bed together at the end of the film. Before that happens, Michel wanders around Paris, viewing the festivities with a jaundiced eye which serves to heighten the unattractiveness of those he observes. Later he has dinner with a group at Andre's house, and his poor opinion of human nature is amply supported by the events that occur then.

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In the UKNo streaming, rental or purchase options known.
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How it feels

Written by AI. It can be wrong.

Tone
  • melancholicstrength 2 of 3
  • cynicalstrength 2 of 3
  • darkstrength 1 of 3
  • satiricalstrength 1 of 3
Pacing
slow-burn, 1 of 4, from slow-burn to relentless
Attention
engaged, 3 of 4, from background-friendly to demanding
Themes
  • grief
  • isolation
  • identity
  • love
  • morality
Places
  • big city
Era
contemporary
Audience
adult
Form
None
Content intensity
  • Gore none
  • Language mild
  • Violence none
  • Sex mild
All scales, 0 to 10
Scales, 0 to 10
ScaleValue0 to 10
Action1
Horror1
Humour4
Realism8
Romance3
Tension3
Darkness7
Complexity6
Emotional weight6

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Where to watch in the UK

No UK streaming, rental or purchase options are known.

Streaming data from JustWatch.TMDB

Details

Genres
drama
Directed by
Guillaume Nicloux
Written by
Guillaume Nicloux
Starring
Bernard-Pierre Donnadieu, Laura Morante, Philippe Nahon, Roland Amstutz, Marie Paquim, Michel Morano, Jean-Claude Bouillon, Maryline Even
Cinematography
Raoul Coutard
Runtime
85 min
Country
France
Languages
French

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