Anne Sewitsky’s debut film Happy, Happy is billed as a comedy. This low budget Norwegian film is set in Norway and perhaps that is why is supposed to be funny: quirky characters, lots of snow, and an occasional chorus that sings pop songs in English. There is, in fact, a lovely scene that involves two lovers running naked in the snow.
Happy, Happy is the country’s selection for the Academy Awards for Best Foreign Film and it also won the World Grand Cinema Jury Prize at this year’s Sundance Film Festival and was selected for the prestigious New Directors/New Film Series in New York. The problem -- for me, at any rate -- is that minus a smattering of wonderful moments the film isn’t really funny. Two couples struggling with their marriages and making bad choices are not particularly pleasurable to watch. Yet, as a drama, the story doesn’t ring true.
Unhappily married Kaja (Agnes Kittelsen) is thrilled when new neighbors move in next door. She has them over for dinner, forces herself into their lives -- only to discover that the perfect couple with the adopted Ethiopian son are not all that happy either. Elizabeth (Maibritt Saerens) and Sigve (Henrik Rafaelsen) have moved to the country to repair problems in their own marriage -- something which can not happen once Kaja and Sigve start hooking up on a regular basis.
In the beginning, this affair -- or maybe just the sex -- makes them happy. They are happy and it is sweet -- the two of them do run naked in the snow. This exalted state, however, is doomed from the start. Kaja’s husband is gay, but still jealous. Elizabeth is hurt and angry and jealous. The children aren’t pleased either with their parents' hijinx. Worse, Kaja’s sadistic son, Theodor, likes to play slave with the adopted Ethiopian boy next door. Yes, this is interesting, but it is not funny -- though the film would like us to think so.
In a sudden and unconvincing turn of events, the characters understand their mistakes, find forgiveness, make peace and move on. The tidy conclusion of Happy, Happy is much too tidy.
