Happiness (1998)
Country: US
Technical: col 139m
Director: Todd Solondz
Cast: Jane Adams, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Lara Flynn Boyle, Ben Gazzara
Synopsis:
The lives of three sisters intertwine with various other characters: a paedophile psychiatrist, an obscene phonecaller, a suicide. All of them under their relative affluence are deeply unhappy.
Review:
Although it is reminiscent in style of Alan Rudolph and Robert Altman (a rather detached authorial gaze, a jigsaw structure) the film breaks new ground in its depiction of masturbation as other than a topic for humour, and dismemberment and paedophilia as other than purely repulsive. It is honest, but not very cheering.
Country: US
Technical: col 139m
Director: Todd Solondz
Cast: Jane Adams, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Lara Flynn Boyle, Ben Gazzara
Synopsis:
The lives of three sisters intertwine with various other characters: a paedophile psychiatrist, an obscene phonecaller, a suicide. All of them under their relative affluence are deeply unhappy.
Review:
Although it is reminiscent in style of Alan Rudolph and Robert Altman (a rather detached authorial gaze, a jigsaw structure) the film breaks new ground in its depiction of masturbation as other than a topic for humour, and dismemberment and paedophilia as other than purely repulsive. It is honest, but not very cheering.
Country: US
Technical: col 139m
Director: Todd Solondz
Cast: Jane Adams, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Lara Flynn Boyle, Ben Gazzara
Synopsis:
The lives of three sisters intertwine with various other characters: a paedophile psychiatrist, an obscene phonecaller, a suicide. All of them under their relative affluence are deeply unhappy.
Review:
Although it is reminiscent in style of Alan Rudolph and Robert Altman (a rather detached authorial gaze, a jigsaw structure) the film breaks new ground in its depiction of masturbation as other than a topic for humour, and dismemberment and paedophilia as other than purely repulsive. It is honest, but not very cheering.