Le Bonheur 1965 ✔ | ESSENTIAL |

Le Bonheur (Varda, 1965). Thérèse's hands, from a sequence early in

Agnès Varda died in 2019, but Le Bonheur remains her most misunderstood and prophetic work. In an age of toxic positivity, where we are told to "just be happy" and "manifest joy," Varda’s film whispers a darker truth: Be careful what you call happiness. It might just be a gilded cage. le bonheur 1965

The film follows François (Jean-Claude Drouot), a handsome carpenter living in a Parisian suburb. He is happily married to Thérèse (Claire Drouot), a seamstress, and they have two adorable children, Pierrot and Gisou. The family is depicted in idyllic terms; they picnic in the woods on weekends, adore each other, and share a comfortable, affectionate home life. Le Bonheur (Varda, 1965)

The film opens in a sunflower field, saturated with gold and yellow. François (Jean-Claude Drouot) is a young carpenter, handsome and simple. He lives with his wife, Thérèse (Claire Drouot—the actor’s real-life wife), and their two small children. Their life is pastoral, set in the suburban tranquility of a village outside Paris. They picnic, they swim, they make love on Sunday afternoons. On the surface, this is personified. It might just be a gilded cage