Le Bonheur

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Recommended: Objectification in media

Directed by French avant-gardist Agnés Varda, Le Bonheur (1965), translated as “Happiness”, conveys through the formal device of editing in promoting male fantasy by objectifying women’s subjectivity in a patriarchal ideology. In her stunningly provocative film, Varda’s editing positions both the female leads, Thérèse (Claire Drouot) and Émilie (Marie-France Boyer), according to the male lead Fronçois’ (Jean-Claude Drouot) attitude as being interchangeable in their domestic roles, sexual fragmented objects, and impotent. Throughout the film, both Thérèse and Émilie are perfect examples of female subjectivity in a patriarchy society as they suppress the comprehension of their own feelings and desires, and transform themselves for Fronçois, thus preventing from coming into conflict with his’ “happiness”. For his own happiness, François expects Thérèse, his wife, to approve of the affair as he is completely engulfed within his own feelings and doesn't see the effect his betrayal might have on his her. In reality, he doesn't even see it as betrayal. There is a fundamental inequality in his marriage, as François has misunderstood his own emotions and desires for the shared feelings that should be part of an ideal marriage.

In the beginning of the film, Varda distinctly displays classic domestic roles portraying Thérèse as the archetypal wife and mother, doing her part to make life easy and pleasurable for her husband and children. Through a montage editing sequence, Varda devalues and dehumanizes Thérèse as she performs her daily household routine, diminishing any emotions or sense of personality Thérèse might have or feel. Within the montage, Thérèse is fragmented as her chores are shown solely through medium close-up shots of her h...

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...al film, conveying through editing the idealistic story of a man’s fantasies of happiness objectifying the women he loves into a patriarchal society, by dehumanizing them, making them easily replaceable, and both sexual and fragmented objects. For Fronçois, both Thérèse and Émilie are superficial objects, a fact which dehumanizes them, striping them completely from their subjective identities taking their roles in his male fantasy. Despite a rather odd and disturbing ending, with one woman replacing another, as the family continues living happily as if nothing particularly important took place. The ending demonstrates patriarchy in effect, where both Thérèse and Émilie are completely defined by Fronçois, and the only method in escaping is by ending their lives, since they can’t apparently hope to be allowed to define their own life within such patriarchal society.

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