Felicità

"Felicità" is the title of a popular Italian song from the 1980s, whose translation is "Happiness". It is heard at a telltale time in Bruno Merle's comedy of the same title. Hence the question raised : can one be happy as a family if one is marginal and lives on expedients or bread and butter jobs, or if the father of the family has already been in prison and can go back to it at any time? The answer of director-scriptwriter Bruno Merle (his second film after "Héros" with Michaël Youn in an interesting rôle against type) is clearly yes. Oh, a happiness full of shadows, roughness, ups and downs but a happiness all the same, made possible despite the irregularity of family life only because love circulates between the three members. The other question of "Felicità" concerns the education of little Tommy. Can the already mentioned father who has done bad things against the law help his daughter to structure herself? The answer again is yes, if only because Tim comments on his misdeeds, showing her that in life one should not follow others like a sheep but try to determine at the moment of a crucial choice what will result from one's decision; one should simply never follow an inclination or let oneself go because of weakness of character or impulsiveness as he did. The theme is made all the more interesting by Bruno Merle's mastery of storytelling (the unfolding of the action is so full of twists and turns that it is impossible to guess how it will develop). The helmer also knows how to choose his actors and direct them with a sure hand. The trio, at once accomplice and unnerving to the others, is very well chosen and interacts with finesse. Pio Marmaï, a sort of mix of Gable and Belmondo, Camille Rutherford, both mature and playful, Rita Merle (the director's daughter), alternately sulky and laughing, serious and dreamy, are entirely convincing. Add to this a good dose of offbeat humour (especially the cosmic jokes played on the others either by Tim or his girlfriend Chloé) that always puts the film on the side of the viewer's pleasure even if the sword of Damocles of drama hangs over the characters at all times. With "Felicità" one laughs, trembles and thinks about it all at the same time. A winning cocktail in the end.