This film is part of our winter series, running at De Uitkijk throughout December and January. This year, our winter series focuses on loneliness, but don’t worry, you can still enjoy warmth and good company at De Uitkijk…!
A pitch-black tragicomedy about roughly twenty Americans struggling with murderous impulses, sexual fantasies, divorce, pedophilia, and other troublesome problems. Philip Seymour Hoffman shines as an obsessive masturbator who gets his kicks from making obscene phone calls. Happiness is a cruel film, for the viewer as well. You never get the sense that the losers passing through your field of vision are granted any real happiness, and whenever it starts to seem that way, Solondz puts an unmistakable end to the fun. Is it a film to laugh at? Not necessarily. More one to chuckle at out of pain and discomfort. With Happiness, Todd Solondz proved that his breakthrough film Welcome to the Dollhouse (1995) was no fluke. Happiness received the International Critics Prize at Cannes.