#0000B/#420: VARDA, Agnès: Le Bonheur (1965)

THE COMPLETE FILMS OF AGNÈS VARDA {Spine #0000B}
4 BY AGNÈS VARDA {Spine #418}

VARDA, Agnès (France)

Le Bonheur [1965]

Spine #0000B/Spine #420

DVD/Blu-ray

Though married to the good-natured, beautiful Thérèse (Claire Drouot), young husband and father François (Jean-Claude Drouot) finds himself falling unquestioningly into an affair with an attractive postal worker. One of Agnès Varda's most provocative films, Le bonheur examines, with a deceptively cheery palette and the spirited strains of Mozart, the terms of fidelity and happiness in a modern, self-centered world.

80 minutes
Color

Monaural

in French

1:66:1 aspect ratio

Criterion Release 2007/2020

Director/Writer

Agnès Varda was 37 when she wrote and directed Le Bonheur.

Other Varda films in the Collection:

#0000B/#419: La Pointe Courte (1955)
#0000B: Du Côté De La Côte (1958)
#0000B: Ô Saisons, Ô Chateaux (1958)
#0000B: L'Opéra-Mouffe (1958)
#0000B/#73: Cléo From 5 To 7 (1962)
#0000B: Les Fiancés Du Pont Macdonald (1964)
#0000B: Salut Les Cubains (1964)
#0000B: Les Créatures (1966)
#0000B: Elsa La Rose (1966)
#0000B/Eclipse Series 43: Uncle Yanco (1968)
#0000B/Eclipse Series 43: Lions Love (. . . And Lies) (1969)
#0000B/Eclipse Series 43: Black Panthers (1970)
#0000B: Daguerréotypes (1975)
#0000B: Réponse De Femmes (1975)
#0000B/#978: One Sings, The Other Doesn't (1977)
#0000B: Plaisir D'Amour En Iran (1977)
#0000B/Eclipse Series 43: Documenteur (1981)
#0000B/Eclipse Series 43: Mur Murs (1981)
#0000B: Ulysse (1982)
#0000B: Les Dites Cariatides (1984)
#0000B/#74: Vagabond (1985)
#0000B: 7 P., Cuis., S. De B. . . . (À Saisir) (1985)
#0000B: T'As De Beaux Escalier, Tu Sais (1986)
#0000B: Jane B. Par Agnès V. (1988)
#0000B: Kung-Fu Master! (1988)
#0000B: Jacquot De Nantes (1991)
#0000B: The Young Girls Turn 25 (1993)
#0000B: One Hundred And One Nights (1995)
#0000B: The World Of Jacques Demy (1995)
#0000B: The Gleaners And I (2000)
#0000B: The Gleaners And I: Two Years Later (2002)
#0000B: Le Lion Volatil (2003)
#0000B: Ydessa, Les Ours Et Etc. . . . (2004)
#0000B: The Beaches Of Agnès (2008)
#0000B: Agnès De Ci De Là Varda (2011)
#0000B: Les 3 Boutons (2015)
#0000B: Faces Places (2017)
#0000B: Varda By Agnès (2019)

The Film

Le Bonheur is one of those films you will not easily forget.

Criterion synopses are usually fine for getting a glimpse into the film you are about to see. Unfortunately, this great masterpiece by Agnès Varda is an exception. By revealing that the man is going to have an affair, a first-time viewer is deprived of a sensational twist.

If you haven’t seen the film yet — stop right here and watch it. Major spoilers to follow:

**

Varda’s simple genius is evident from the very start. Over a completely black screen we hear chirping birds. Then, as the credit sequence begins — with the ominous music of the fugue from Mozart’s Adagio and Fugue in C Minor, K. 546 (arranged for woodwinds, except in the final scene where the original arrangement for strings reappears!) — 

— she alternates between two simple edited shots:

1. A lone yellow sunflower gently fluttering; and
2. A  group of sunflowers; one facing the camera.

On the 20th cut, a bee lands on the sunflower in cut #2.

In an unfocused background, a family walks hand-in-hand towards the camera.

They are:

1. François (Jean-Claude Drouot);
2. Thérèse (Claire Drouot);
3. and their two young children, Gisou and Pierrot (Sandrine and Olivier Drouot).

Varda has picked a real-life family to act in her film. Jean-Claude is the only real actor, but his wife, Claire, does an exceptional job for a non-actor.

With these two alternating clips, we are transported into a natural universe of happiness. It is enchanted filmmaking — so simple and unpretentious.

**

Varda uses colored fades when separating scenes. The first fade following the credits is green:

A long shot of a pastoral wooded area; we see Thérèse, as Varda swaps the fugue for the Clarinet Quintet:(also arranged for winds!)

then moves in closer. Varda’s choice of this particular piece is pure genius. It sets the mood for this idyllic setting perfectly.

• A visit to his relatives shows a television on with Renoir’s 1959 film, Le déjeuner sur l’herbe (Picnic on the grass) showing Paul Meurisse and his girl lying together in the woods, which mimics the scene we just witnessed!
• Scenes of domestic tranquility; a blue fade and François is in Vincennes, asking a stranger for directions to the post office, where he will meet Émilie  (Marie-France Boyer).
• The film that Thérèse wants to see is Viva Maria! (1965) by Louis Malle — the film where Brigitte Bardot and Jeanne Moreau appear together for the first time. She asks him which woman he prefers. He answers diplomatically: Toi ...
• The very next cut shows a cabinet covered with pictures of both Bardot and Moreau!
• A red fade connects the scene where the brothers are sharing wine and cigarettes — François holds out his lighter — to a small cooking fire where the families are out in the country again, cooking kebabs.
• A second red fade transitions between the scene where they learn his brother has a new baby girl to Thérèse doing her domestic, blissful little chores.
• With signs (Porte Dorée), Varda locates us at the Vincennes Zoo — we see lions, and then some egrets or herons.
• “What a pretty bird!” Apparently, this is Émilie, as Varda cuts to a new scene where we see only a bit of blue uniform on each edge of the frame. The two postières are looking at a large book of stamps. They pause to look at a particular stamp which Varda brings into center frame. It is a Chagall painting: “Les Maries de la Tour Eiffel” —

• Only then does Varda pull the camera back to reveal the two women and cuts to François at her counter.
• Her co-worker tells her she can’t have lunch with her; François asks Émilie to recommend a good café.
• “Au Café Le Château — pas Le Castel.”
• Varda then shows us the awnings of both cafés!
• and — cut — they are together at Le Château!
• They go for a walk and François tells her he loves her. But they are still using the more formal “vous” rather than the more intimate “tu.”
• He is now back home, painting a toy garage for his son — in vivid blue, white and red, of course.
• She is finishing the wedding dress and he tells her he can’t come to the fitting because he has to work (he’s going to see his new girlfriend) ... Varda fades to blue, where a crowd is gathered for the wedding rehearsal.
• François shows up at Émilie‘s studio apartment. Varda flashes back and forth between the two using 12 frames (half a second) per shot.
• François and Thérèse make love and Varda separates the following switch to Émilie with a true FTB.
• François goes to the post office and composes a love note on a telegram blank; Émilie reads it and returns a card to him with a heart and her name. And ...
• ... here is the coolest filmic transition in the film. With approximately 12 frames each, she flashes the colors of the French flag — a screen of blue, white and red to transition to the dancing scene!
• ... which is filmed as a dolly shot behind a tree, with the focus puller working like crazy, as Varda moves back and forth, always pulling back to allow the tree to be in focus. A marvelous scene.
• François and Émilie make love in Bergman-type close-ups. The Clarinet Quintet almost always accompanies love scenes.
• A white fade and Varda films two pieces of signage: Assurances (insurance) and Confiance (trust) ...
• And — enfins — we are back in the countryside again. The kids take their nap under the mosquito netting, and François confesses his affair to his wife.
• They make love; Gisou wakes up; Thérèse has disappeared.
• As François searches, a woman says she saw her pass by with some flowers. (hints of Ophelia) ... Thérèse has drowned.
• Varda films François’s frantic search bleached of the sharp summer colors; rewinds his shocking discovery of her body several times, and gives us a few frames of the drowning woman clutching to a tree branch ...
• Tragedy is soon followed by more happiness, as François and Émilie marry, and — wearing matching umber sweaters — saunter through the woods, as fall threatens to turn into winter in the French countryside ...

Now comes the fun part.

What the heck just happened?

Is François a cad, a maniac, or just a humanist who thought his wife would understand his overflowing happiness and happily go along with it?

Did she really die by suicide, or was it an accident, as she clutches to the branch that represents her only hope?

What kind of person is Émilie, who gives up her own personal future — whatever that might have been — to become a stepmother?

These questions all tickle the imagination and leave the viewer with a very beautiful puzzle. And the memory of a very beautiful — and bedazzling film. Cinema at its very very best.

Film Rating (0-60):

58

The Extras

The Booklet

#420: short essay “Varda on ‘Le Bonheur’” and an essay “Splendor in the Grass” by Amy Taubin.

#0000B: Essay by Michael Koresky in “Program 5 — Married Life.”

Both essays are terrific.

Commentary

None

Short piece #1

The Two Women of “Le bonheur” (2006) featuring actors Claire Drouot and Marie-France Boyer.

Interviewed by Varda’s daughter, Rosalie. Fascinating interview.

Discussion

Thoughts on “Le bonheur” (2006), a discussion between four intellectuals about the concept of happiness and its relation to the film.

This is a jewel of a discussion. Various viewpoints, but they seem to all agree that the film is a masterpiece.

Short pieces #2 and 3

By Varda, investigating people’s ideas of happiness.

Most people respond to her question with the answer “love” — or “family” or “work.” But each individual answer reflects the uniqueness of that individual ...

Featurette

Jean-Claude Drouot Returns (2006), in which the actor revisits the film’s setting forty years later.

Jean-Claude definitely looks 40 years older, but he seems to relish the reminiscence ...

Television program

From 1964: Démons et merveilles du cinéma, featuring footage of Varda shooting Le bonheur.

This has fantastic footage of Varda filming the dancing scene ...

Interview

With Varda from 1998 about Le bonheur.

Thirty-five years later!

Short film

#420 only: Du côté de la côte (1958), a short film by Varda exploring the tourist destination of the Côte d’Azur.

Available separately in the #0000B set.

Theatrical trailer

Extras Rating (0-40):

36

58 + 36 =

94

By Director
By Spine #