Happy End

The end is here. And in the chaos surrounding the brink of oblivion, nothing seems to matter except fulfilling unresolved desire. With "Happy End," brothers Arnaud and Jean-Marie Larrieu have created an apocalyptic and cinematic celebration of love - or lust - and death. A bathtub salesman named Robinson leaves his wife and daughter in order to chase after the exotic and elusive Spanish beauty, Laetitia. Organized in a structure akin to the working logic of dreams, the film is a compilation of the present day (where Robinson has a prosthetic arm) and the past (where Robinson first meets Laetitia). The film follows him from France to Spain, Taiwan and Canada as he searches for Laetitia and we learn the story of how he lost his arm.

Based on the novel by Dominique Noguez, the apocalypse is portrayed as a combination of both natural and human-induced catastrophe - a mix of earthquakes, terrorist attacks, killer viruses and nuclear disasters. Ultimately, "Happy End" explores how humanity behaves when social conventions crumble along with society itself.
MAX SMITH