Movie Review: A 'Happy End' to Haneke's Latest? Yes.

Sony Pictures Classics

Happy End (2017, directed by Michael Haneke. France/Germany/Austria, French/English with subtitles, Color, 107 minutes) Michael Haneke's newest film opens and closes with moments recorded on a character's cell phone. I felt this was appropriate considering society's dependence on the device, especially in movie theaters where people are on them until the film starts, and they whip them out when the end credits roll. It's a subtle note Haneke makes about society in "Happy End", the auteur's first film in five years that takes a step back to his earlier works of observing people and cultures without a clear narrative. It was definitely a "happy end"-ing.

True to Haneke form, the film revolves around the Laurent family with an all-star cast who play the characters of construction firm owner Anne (Isabelle Huppert), her brother Thomas (Mathieu Kassovtiz) and their father Georges (Jean-Louis Trintignant) as the fractured leads of an emotionally broke family. The film is a quilt of slightly loose pieces, both structurally and emotionally, that form together a coherent story about their troubles to realize lethal realities and the changing social climate around them. Anne is dealing with a construction site accident, and her equally unstable son, while her father tries to fight off dementia with several failed suicide attempts. Meanwhile, Thomas deals with multiple lovers and his emotionally distant teenage daughter who knows everything about his salacious encounters. 

Haneke has (had) a way of forming loose parts into a coherent narrative. That has been seen with his own "71 Fragments" and "Code Unknown"; "Happy End" is no different. Intricately weaved into a lot of static shots and long takes, sometimes both, is a story about really naive characters who don't realize the realities around them. The smartest characters are Georges and his granddaughter, Eve, who are both fascinated by death that they connect on a level of empathy that no one else has yet to realize because of all of the distractions around them. The dichotomy between the oldest and youngest characters who seem to realize the most around them is a revelation. No one else understands life more than these two. There is a scene late in the movie where they express their unhappiness with others. An over 70-year age difference and yet these two people have the most true relationship than anyone else in the film. 

"Happy End" focuses on our obsession with the things we can control versus the things we have no control, yet are responsible for. Why? Because it's convenient of course. That's what Haneke has usually focused on, and "Happy End" harbors that energy into a more subtle picture about current political/social norms. Going into a Haneke picture you should expect a very bland, stark level of audience integration. His films are made for audiences to observe the characters' actions and to make interpretations about things we see. "Happy End" lacks a true emotional connection to some in its plot points, even though they're acted at the highest caliber, but it drives home the ideas that people can actually be so oblivious to the real problems that surround them. "Happy End" is a welcome return to the Haneke who could reflect upon us the realest reactions to the social problems around us. He uses the bourgeois setting to show how detached all people can be to the events that truly matter.

Rating: B+