Happiness (1998) Todd Solondz

When a young woman rejects her current overweight suitor in a restaurant, he unexpectedly places a curse on her. The film then moves on to her sisters. One is a happily married woman with a psychiatrist husband and three kids. Unfortunately the husband develops an unnatural fascination for his 11 year old son's male classmates, fantasizes about mass killing in a park, and masturbates to teen magazines. One of his patients has an unrequited fascination for the third sister. Meanwhile the apparently stable 40 year marriage of the sister's parents suddenly unravels when he decides he has had enough and wants to live a hermit's life in Florida. Obviously, the whole movie is slightly warped in its viewpoint and certainly presents abnormal relationships among all of its parties. 

Todd Solonz' masterpiece slaps you in the face and laughs about it. The film transcends the meaning of the word "dark" or "bizarre" into "daily" or "humane". Dysfunctional families have been a common topic since Oedipus and Hamlet to 400 Blows, Ordinary People, and many others; however, times change and human needs do also (socially, economically, and emotionally). Behaviors, laws, and what I understand as "common sense" act hand in hand with interpretation of our unconscious needs. And historical transition periods are relevant to understand these human recycling needs, which are very present here as chaotic and real as possible.

Happiness is a mind-bending experience that reveals, surprises, and causes great reflection. Hopefully for some, this "therapeutic" film might result in some real life happy moments for it hits the right note with the right prescription.