Happy End (2017)
Directed by Michael Haneke

Drama

Film Synopsis

The comfortably off Laurent family lead a privileged life in Calais, if they did but know it.  Unaware of, or totally unconcerned by, the plight of the refugees living in abject squalor at the makeshift camps just a few miles from their home, the Laurents are wrapped up in their own petty concerns, which, typically, revolve around inter-generational conflict, marital infidelity and the right to die.  The family patriarch, 84-year-old Georges Laurent, lives with his daughter Anne and son Thomas and is mostly preoccupied with finding someone to help him end his days.  Anne is turning out to be a shrewd businesswoman, managing the property development business she has inherited from her father with cool and efficient ruthlessness.

Relations between Anne and her son Pierre have taken a nosedive recently after the latter's carelessness very nearly resulted in the death of one of his construction workers.  In spite of the fact that his second wife has recently given birth, Thomas, a doctor by profession, is now assiduously pursuing an extramarital affair with another woman.  When his first wife takes an overdose, he has no choice but to invite his 12-year-old daughter Eve to come and live with him in his father's house.  Not only does this new arrival increase the workload of the family's resentful Moroccan servants, it also further heightens the strains between the head of the household and his completely self-absorbed children.  Eve's arrival, however, may turn out to be just what Georges has been waiting for, the passport to his wished-for happy end...
© James Travers
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Film Credits

  • Director: Michael Haneke
  • Script: Michael Haneke
  • Cinematographer: Christian Berger
  • Cast: Isabelle Huppert (Anne Laurent), Jean-Louis Trintignant (Georges Laurent), Mathieu Kassovitz (Thomas Laurent), Fantine Harduin (Eve Laurent), Franz Rogowski (Pierre Laurent), Laura Verlinden (Anaïs), Aurélia Petit (Nathalie), Toby Jones (Lawrence Bradshaw), Hassam Ghancy (Rachid), Nabiha Akkari (Jamila), Joud Geistlich (Selin), Philippe du Janerand (Maître Barin), Hille Perl (La gambiste), Dominique Besnehard (Marcel)
  • Country: France / Germany / Austria
  • Language: English / French
  • Support: Color
  • Runtime: 108 min

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