Le Bonheur 1965

For decades, Le Bonheur (1965) was the overlooked gem of Varda’s filmography. Cléo from 5 to 7 (1962) got the glory; Vagabond (1985) got the grit. But Le Bonheur was too uncomfortable to champion.

Released during the French New Wave’s most fertile period, Le Bonheur stands apart from the movement’s male-dominated narratives (Godard, Truffaut, Rohmer). Varda, often called the “Grandmother of the New Wave,” uses the film’s deceptively simple plot to explore a provocative question: Can happiness be genuinely shared, or is it inherently exclusive? The film’s infamous narrative twist—where François’s wife Thérèse, after discovering the affair, drowns herself—transforms the sunny, Impressionist aesthetic into a chilling meditation on emotional violence. le bonheur 1965