History Film / Happiness1998

* Older sister Trish Maplewood (Creator/CynthiaStevenson) is a middle-class housewife who is married to psychiatrist Bill Maplewood (Creator/DylanBaker), who is secretly a pedophile.

* Helen Jordan (Creator/LaraFlynnBoyle), the middle sister, is a successful author who is loved and adored by everyone around her, but she is in constant despair over the fact that she feels that no one loves her for herself. She finds a bit of excitement when her neighbor, Allen (Creator/PhilipSeymourHoffman), wants to violently have sex with her.

[[caption-width-right:350:'Got to find it, Got to find it, got to find my Happiness.' [[note]] Poster art by Creator/DanielClowes [[/note]]]]

''Happiness'' is a 1998 BlackComedy film written and directed by Creator/ToddSolondz, in what is seen as his greatest and most controversial work.

The film follows the lives of three sisters trying to find Happiness in their lives. Older sister Trish Maplewood (Creator/CynthiaStevenson) is a middle-class housewife who is married to psychiatrist Bill Maplewood (Creator/DylanBaker), who is secretly a pedophile. Helen Jordan (Creator/LaraFlynnBoyle), the middle sister, is a successful author who is loved and adored by everyone around her. But she is in constant despair over the fact that she feels that no one loves her for herself. She finds a bit of excitement when her neighbor, Allen (Creator/PhilipSeymourHoffman), wants to violently have sex with her. Finally there's Joy (Creator/JaneAdams), the youngest sister, who is overly sensitive and feels that she lacks a purpose in life. She later decides to become a teacher for Russian immigrants, and she starts a relationship with her student, Vlad (Creator/JaredHarris)

Due to its content, the film was threatened with an NC-17 and the film's original distributor October Films, dropped the film. Both of these problems were resolved, when the film was released unrated and the film's production company, Good Machine, released the film by themselves. Despite all of that, the film's script was nominated for a Golden Globe. The film won the FIPRESCI prize at that year's Cannes Film Festival.

The film had a loose sequel, ''Life During Wartime'', released 11 years later. None of the cast from this film appeared in the sequel.

Not to be confused with VisualNovel/{{Happiness}}, or the emotion.

Due to its content, the film was threatened with an NC-17 and the films original distributor October Films, dropped the film. Both of these were resolved when the film was released unrated and the films production company, Good Machine, released the film by themselves. Despite all of that, the films script was nominated for a Golden Globe and the film won the FIPRESCI prize at that years Cannes Film Festival.

The film had a loose sequel, ''Life During Wartime'' released 11 years later. None of the cast from this film appeared in the sequel.

The film follows the lives of three sisters trying to find Happiness in their lives: Older sister Trish Maplewood (Creator/CynthiaStevenson), a Middle Class housewife whose married to psychiatrist Bill Maplewood (Creator/DylanBaker) who is secretly a pedophile; Helen Jordan (Creator/LaraFlynnBoyle), the middle sister, a successful author who is loved and adored by everyone around her but is in constant despair over the fact she feels no one loves her for her, but finds a bit of excitement when her neighbor, Allen (Creator/PhilipSeymourHoffman), wants to violently have sex with her; and finally there's Joy (Creator/JaneAdams), the youngest sister who is overly sensitive and feels she lacks a purpose in life. She later decides to become a teacher for russian immigrants, where she starts a relationship with her student, Vlad (Creator/JaredHarris)

[[caption-width-right:350:"Got to find it, Got to find it, got to find my Happiness. [[note]] Poster art by Creator/DanielClowes [[/note]]]]

-->'''Andy''': You think I don't appreciate art? You think I don't understand fashion? You think I'm not hip? You think I'm pathetic? A nerd? A lard-ass fat-so? You think I'm shit? Well, you're wrong, 'cause I'm champagne, and you're shit. Until the day you die, you, not me, will always be shit!

The film follows the lives of three sisters trying to find Happiness in their lives: Older sister Trish Maplewood (Creator/CynthiaStevenson), a Middle Class housewife whose married to psychiatrist Bill Maplewood (Creator/DylanBaker) who is secretly a peodphile; Helen Jordan (Creator/LaraFlynnBoyle), the middle sister, a successful author who is loved and adored by everyone around her but is in constant despair over the fact she feels no one loves her for her, but finds a bit of excitement when her neighbor, Allen (Creator/PhilipSeymourHoffman), wants to violently have sex with her; and finally there's Joy (Creator/JaneAdams), the youngest sister who is overly sensitive and feels she lacks a purpose in life. She later decides to become a teacher for russian immigrants, where she starts a relationship with her student, Vlad (Creator/JaredHarris)

* NoEnding: The film ends the moment [[spoiler: Billy finally admits to his family that he ejaculated to one of the neighbors sunbathing]]

* TheCameo: Creator/JonLovitz as Joy's date, Andy, in the opening 5 minutes, who gives a great TheReasonYouSuckSpeech to her.
* DownerEnding: [[spoiler: No one finds happiness. Bill gets caught molesting Billy's friend, Johnny, the family has their reputation ruined. Andy kills himself; Allen finds someone who loves him, but she's a murderer who killed her door man after he raped her. Joy finds out that Vlad cheated on his wife and that she was being used, steals her guitar and stereo, and pays $500 to get those items backed. The Jordan's parents end up in a loveless marriage despite being together for 40 years and everyone is miserable. The only one who has a [[{{Pun}} Happy Ending]] is Billy, who finally is capable of ejaculating.]]
* DrivenToSuicide: [[spoiler: the fate of Andy, as revealed towards the end of the film.]]

Due to its content, the film was threatened with an NC-17 and the films original distributor October Films, dropped the film. Both of these were resolved when the film was released unrated and the films production company, Good Machine, released the film by themselves.