not as good as all the hype

A different way of telling a story

n my opinion it was a great movie with some interesting elements, even though having some plot holes and the ending probably was just too messy and crammed together, but still fun to watch and not your casual movie that is similar to all other ones.

Instead, you get a movie that's enjoyable enough, but leaves you feeling like it could have been much, much more.

On the surface, "Happiness is in the Field" belongs to that realm of French slices of lives Etienne Chatillez specialized in, he who painted such humorous and sociologically relevant portraits since his breakthrough movie "Life is a Long Quiet River". Indeed, watching a Chatillez film is always a premise for delightful character-driven escapism, and on that level, the title couldn't have been more evocative. We all seek happiness but Chatillez does better, he provides us the answer. "The nerve!" I want to protest… as I felt that (this time) the director lost the charm, wit and tenderness of his previous films and seems more presumptuous than usual.The film tells the story of a man on the verge of a nervous breakdown. Francis, played by Michel Serrault, gets a visit from the IRS, a strike from the employees of his plumbing supply factory and the daily snobbish rudeness of his uptight wife Nicole (Sabine Azema) and his spoiled daughter. The only thing he doesn't get yet is cancer but health troubles are coming. The only oasis of fun is with his friend Gérard aka "Gégé", a character with an appetite for food and wine only equaled by his lust for women. The way he tenderly calls Francis "honey bunny" is misleading as the film quickly clears any hint of homoerotic subtext. Gégé gets any woman he wants easily, too easily sometimes… as easily as when he orders the house's finest wine. But I'll get back to the film's latent machismo.So, Francis is having a hard time and it is no real surprise when in the midst of a lunch with Gégé, his face takes a high plunge into the plate. Francis has a stroke and this is the first signal of his imminent mortality, especially if he stays on the same stress-inducing and self-deprecating path. And in these twists of Karma so typical of Chatillez, one night during his convalescence, he watches a TV program where Dolores, a duck breeder, of Spanish ancestry (she's played by Carmen Maura) comes with her two adult daughters, to issue a missing person's notice and expose the picture of the father and husband, Michel, who disappeared twenty-six years ago. Naturally, he looks exactly like Francis. Nicole's hysterical outburst was the first of the many over-the-top moments that left me puzzled.Francis' first reaction is denial but after an interview with a sleazy journalist played by Patrick Bouchitey, and under the pressure of his staff, family and friends, Francis finally decides to pretend that he's Michel and starts a new life "in the field". And of course, it's a rebirth. But Chatillez is rather stingy on explanations and many parts are left unexplained, we never know why Nicole goes all cuckoo about it, we never know what Francis said to the Spanish woman so they could get together, it's all in the situations, and the acting. But while his ellipses usually work with his films, in a story full of such enigmatic characters, it feels like cheating. And it gets worse when Gérard takes the abandoned Nicole to a restaurant.I'm not the one who usually cries for wolf when it comes to feminist issues, but I've never seen a movie so blatantly misogynistic. I used to hate the snotty attitude of Nicole but then seeing her being bullied by Gégé and becoming a "better" woman just because he banged her in the car as if it was the only way to break the ice, and calling her ugly names, because she "likes it". I know it isn't supposed to be a statement about women, and the rudeness of Gégé's manners also annoyed his friend, but there's a sort of consensus that the best way to reach happiness is to overcome the social barriers we have between us, even if the price is vulgarity. Or is it a metaphor from the title and happiness consist also on acting like farm animals.In another scene, Francis only learns the shady truth about his alter-ego's criminal past when, following the advice of Gégé (who else?), he slaps the sweet and devoted Dolores, and I simply hated that part. Is it supposed to be a turning point for the man who's been a weakling until that point? It is difficult to appreciate how mean-spirited the film is toward women for the sake of Francis' character's arc. In the end, you have two wives agreeing on keeping things secret because each one found equilibrium; both were treated badly in a way or another… but they liked it. It happened very rarely to me but I related to these women and I felt sorry for them. Chatillez is free to toy with his characters and I'm not saying such women wouldn't exist but I felt hard to empathize with both Francis and Gégé, and this comes from someone who's tired of the whole 'Girl Power' trend."Happiness is in the Field" should have been a bowl of fresh air for me, and I think it could have made these bold and deliberately vulgar moves interesting if the film didn't feel so empty at some points, it seems like we never grew to know more the people except in stereotypical situations. I accept that happiness would be on the field but I wish the journey was a bit more interesting and wouldn't lend credence to those who see misogyny everywhere. Well, this film does and out of all the French directors, I'm sad that it comes from the one who made a gem like "Tatie Danielle". Happiness might be on the field, but this one left me bitter, and angry.(On a side note, the title inspired a famous French program where farmers and peasants try to find the true love and it was called "Love is in the field", proof that Chatillez still had the flair to find expressions or name that would enter everyday speech).

Fleeing to a countrified life style is a common escape for city folk immersed in problems. Francis Bergeade (Michael Serrault) grabs an opportunity to do just that when a TV show designed to find missing persons displays a convincing photograph of him for all the world to see. He soon finds himself leading an idyllic life on a farm with a kind and understanding wife, not like the aggressive spoilt brat he left behind in the city.Much of the humour of this film centres around his friend Gerard (Eddy Mitchell) who is a great manipulator of events. It seems Gerard is enjoying the company of both wives even putting a smile on the face of the lazy wingeing one. There is some entertaining script writing here, both witty and believable.Life on the farm is well photographed and the daily routine well documented, even the preparation of the goose pate of which there is plenty. There remains however the underlying suspicion that the real husband that disappeared 23 years ago could turn up at any moment. A criminal offence would thus be exposed.An investigation of the details regarding the lost husband leads to some surprising discoveries.It's a pleasant little film that has you smiling all the way through. Ignorance is bliss, they say. The revelation at the end casts a black cloud over the happy atmosphere. When all is said and done however, some secrets are best left alone.

Cycles are, of course, a part of life and this film is a timely reminder that films themselves represent Escape from the humdrum world. It's reasonable to suppose that the Great Depression, followed closely by the Second World War saw the medium come into its own as people in breadlines always managed to scrape together a few cents to spend an hour or two with Fred and Ginger dancing away the soup kitchens outside in the real world or later Betty Grable made them forget for a while that not too far away people were being put in ovens. Lately film has been used to 'educate', 'politicize', almost anything in fact EXCEPT entertain so this film is a double joy celebrating as it does the ultimate escape from the pressures and stress of modern life. Few people of either sex have not at some point longed to quit the rat race, a nagging spouse, ungrateful children, unsympathetic banks etc, sometimes, as Michel Serrault here, all at once. But in the real world we more or less learn to live with day-to-day problems and make the best of them. Also in the real world it is highly unlikely that a businessman harassed by personnel problems and unhappy with his wife and daughter would be so easily to step into another ready-made family in an idyllic part of the country that provides all the money and love he needs. If you think like that then of course you won't enjoy what is both a charming and delightful movie acted to the hilt by the entire cast - some would protest mildly at the inclusion of Eric Cantona, indeed I myself would be one of them but on balance his role is peripheral at best and certainly not bad enough to detract from a hugely enjoyable film. The bad news is that the real world will still be there when you leave the cinema and/or switch off the DVD but then the real world was waiting for those Depression escapees and they made it through so if they could do it so can you. Highly recommended.

The most delightful daydream has always been the one in which you're put into an environment completely different from the one you know, and you become much happier as a result. In the cinema, this has resulted in some classics: A Yankee in King Arthur's Court comes to mind, or Chatiliez's first film, La vie est une longue fleuve tranquille, which hangs on two babies being switched at birth, and the families find out about it many years later.This picture has the great Michel Serrault playing the lead, a frustrated businessman who is mistaken for a man who disappeared many years before, and who is tracked down via a TV show that specializes in this sort of squirm-inducing hokum. He's only too glad to abandon the snobby, sarcastic wife (Sabine Azema) he's spent miserable years with, to go live with Carmen Maura in the sun of Provence. There is the sense that the dream cannot go on forever, but you enjoy how the story plays out.