Original poster artwork · Great Cinema Master ListBerlin · 1
Spoiler-free premise
François, a young carpenter, lives a happy, uncomplicated life with his wife Thérèse and their two small children.
Read expanded premiseLonger, still spoiler-free+
Carpenter François lives with wife Thérèse and two young children in a bright suburban world of work and leisure. He begins an affair with postal worker Émilie and insists that the new love simply adds to his existing happiness.
Why it belongs
Le Bonheur deploys radiant color and Mozart to expose a man's selfish arithmetic of happiness, letting beauty sharpen rather than conceal cruelty.
Read expanded why it belongsThe fuller editorial case+
Varda sets saturated pastoral color, floral patterns, family leisure, and Mozart against a chillingly composed account of male entitlement, creating an irony whose visual pleasure refuses to excuse its protagonist.
