By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 2.5 cats
Director: François Delisle
Starring: Anne-Marie Cadieux | Frédérick De Grandpre | Joseph Bellerose | Stéphane Krau
Country: canada
Year: 2006
Running time: 90
IMDB: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0417499/
Michael says: “LE BONHEUR C’EST UNE CHANSON TRISTE was presented at the Brattle Theatre by the Quebec Delegation of the Canadian Consulate. I would like to see more presentations such as this; we miss out on a lot of exciting French Canadian film despite the fact that it’s not that far away. Unfortunately, LE BONHEUR was a bit of a disappointment. Anne-Marie was once successful in the advertising world until she suddenly quit her job after finding a lost video camera. She begins to spend her days wandering the streets of Montreal interviewing passers-by about the meaning of happiness. This inward and outward journey brings Anne-Marie about where you’d expect, back to work, and once more content. Sounds trite? It is.
“Not that there weren’t some interesting moments. Lead actress Anne-Marie Candieux is an accomplished actress and watching her was nearly made the experience worthwhile. When the film focused on the interviewees, and Anne-Marie’s nascent relationship with them, the film could be interesting, but too often the film explored Anne-Marie’s story, which was unfortunately, not very deep. Director François Delisle is certainly skilled, but there was definitely a personal story that was yearning to be told, and I suspect that it was too personal, and not very interesting to anyone else. 2 ½ cats.”