Review of Happiness (1998)

Watching Happiness lastnight, I kept asking myself if it was more focused than Magnolia or simply less layered. I think the answer is decidedly both. I'm not sure what this has to do with the rest of my review, but c'mon, this is a tough one to break into. The film presents viewers in the starkest of terms with tragic stories of loneliness and sexual deviancy in such a candid and unmanipulative way that we wish to learn more about these people, even as we are repulsed by them. Solondz achieves this by keeping each character's humanity intact, no matter how flawed or twisted it becomes. These people are not heroes of their own lives. None of them are bound for greatness. Their stories are in no way inspiring. But they are real people with real stories, and Solondz has decided that these too are worth telling. To broadly paint this film as satire is a bit misleading and dangerous. Satire suggests that the characters are merely devices, symbols used to illustrate larger truths. While I agree that the tone of this film is often satirical and ironic, I think in most instances the characters embody their own truths, albeit tragic and disgusting ones, truths that the camera refuses to look away from. Perhaps what the director is really satarizing is ignorance. Who benefits more from the facades that people construct? The person on the inside, or the people on the outside? How much are we really willing to know about our neighbors, teachers, sibilings, if at the same time we wish to preserve a veil of happiness?