03/09/2010

Sex as a foursome in flour, partner swapping, lesbian love. A scandalous film on the Lido? Not really. Antony Cordier’s second feature Happy Few [+see also:
trailer
film profile] is a romantic drama which (literally) lays bodies and souls bare. And it does so without shocking viewers.

In his successful debut feature Cold Showers [+see also:
trailer
film profile] (Louis Delluc Award 2005), Cordier depicted a love triangle. In Happy Few, he explores the encounter between two couples.

Rachel (Marina Fois), married to photographer-writer Franck (Roschdy Zem), meets Vincent (Nicolas Duvauchelle), a customer at the goldsmith’s workshop where she works. Rachel decides to invite Vincent for lunch, along with his wife Teri (Elodie Bouchez), a former athlete who teaches gymnastics. There is a palpable spark that day between Franck and Teri and soon Rachel and Vincent also confess their mutual physical attraction.

These are not couples in crisis, on the contrary. "In life, even if you’re happy you always hope something will happen. Something which creates a diversion", says Rachel at the start of the film.

The four protagonists explore utopian territories, believing they are in control of the situation. They set ground rules and are convinced they can keep this double romantic tangle on a noble, morally acceptable level, and never revert to sordid subterfuge and lies.

But then they gradually press the accelerator of romantic involvement. Swapping sex partners turns into swapping lives. The situation gets complicated. Cordier is convinced that we can love two people at the same time. But he also knows that the price can be too high to pay.

Happy Few centres on a small group of privileged people – it was Stendhal who coined this expression – but its ironic title is misleading. Considering the films of Jacques Doillon and Bertrand Blier, Cordier brings nothing new to the big screen other than a modern love story between adults experimenting with passion, feelings and pain.

(Translated from Italian)