Le Bonheur

In Le Bonheur, Agnes Varda concentrates on the relationship between happiness and the natural order of things. Varda uses the relationships among the three main characters (husband, wife, and postal worker) to illustrate how living a life in consonance with nature eliminates the petty jeolousy that ruin more "normal" lives lived according society's arbitrary constraints. Varda's use of color illustrates that even these lives have a natural arc to them.

In this sense, Le Bonheur is a continuation of where Varda's earlier film, Cleo From 5 to 7, left off. In the earlier film, Cleo was able to realize an inner strength only after shedding society's affectations in the presence of an unassuming soldier on leave. This simplification takes place in the only natural setting in the film: a park within Paris.

Le Bonheur starts off in a park; not within Paris, but one in the countryside. The implication is that in this simpler setting the clutches of society's affectations are less ruinous and only occasionally intrude. The most sinister intrusion is during the construction of a clubhouse by some of the men and their sons when one of the boys declares that, when finished, women will not be allowed in.

Despite this occasional jolt, both husband and wife lead an idylic life with family, coworkers and friends. Which is what Varda wants us to observe.

Even the addition of a lover (the postal worker) for the husband doesn't complicate their lives. This is because the couple (now effectively a trio) live in accordance with the simplicity of natural laws. These laws do not recognize marriage as a convention. Instead, these laws recognize the right of the husband to pick his mates as he pleases (consistent with the lion presented by Varda), as long as all are truly happy.

The understated reaction to the subsequent death of the wife is the most vivid example of how natural law differs from societal convention. The family's loss does not precipitate a crises. The wife is mourned respectfully, the children arranged for, and then everyone moves on. Later, the husband and lover move in with each other and the children once again have a complete family. It's the natural order of things. There is no permanence to the sadness brought about by her death.

That Varda does not inform us as to how she died (accident, murder, suicide) says that how she died is immaterial. It is of consequence only in a society obsessed with the why. In their simpler, less affected life, the family simply needs only to acknowledge she's passed on.

The use of color throughout the film lends a sense of a passage of time and accumulaton of experiences. The husband, wife, and lover triangle is not one in the usual sense, since at no time are they presented in oppostion. Instead the three are more like points on the same line of experience. This line changes when the lover comes into play, and once again when the wife is found dead. All the time the line is moving forward in time.

If this line was in color it would start out the bright yellow of the opening sunflowers and find its point in the muted colors of the autumnal greens and reds. The bright colors grow progressively richer as the film progresses, and in this way both marks the passage of time and accumulation of experiences. And it is the simplicity of these experiences, enjoyed without false affectations imposed by society, that Varda would have us cherish.