“Aren’t You Happy?” credits its protagonist only as “the melancholic girl” (Marie Rathscheck), a woman with ever-changing hairstyles that suspiciously resemble those of old Hollywood divas. The film follows her as she wanders throughout a city, moving between 15 different encounters. Throughout the film, she has sex with men, does aerobics with babies, and makes a feeble attempt at writing a book, among other things. As the melancholic girl interacts with the world around her, however, her detachment from her own life becomes clearer and clearer.
In her debut feature film, director, writer, and editor Susanne Heinrich paints a portrait of a world resigned to neoliberalism and the structures that accompany it. She describes that world as one where people “move through non-places and talk in advertising speech instead of really connecting with one another” in the “Aren’t You Happy?” press kit.
Heinrich began her career as an author, writing four books between the ages of 19 and 25. During a bout of writer’s block, she began reading the feminist and political theory that would come to inspire and heavily influence “Aren’t You Happy?” Heinrich infused the discontent and alienation that she felt at the time into her main character, whom she views as a new sort of archetype. “I don’t think of any of the characters as being real, flesh-and-blood human,” Heinrich said. “They are more similar to the characters in Brecht’s theater, where a mother stands for all mothers, or a worker represents all workers.” The lack of focus on the film’s characters as individuals allows Heinrich the freedom to explore structural issues such as capitalism and gender roles.
The film also frequently interacts with criticisms of the film industry related to gender representation. For example, it ends with a scene of the melancholic girl eating ice cream for four and a half minutes, an ode to the fact that women are rarely seen eating on screen. There are also several shots of men posing provocatively — in poses normally done by women — in Heinrich’s reconfiguration of the male gaze.
Every scene and encounter in the film is laced with symbolism, both subtle and obvious, allowing the viewer plenty of opportunities to deconstruct the intricate theory Heinrich transmuted onto the screen. With dialogue fit for protest posters, pastel-colored backgrounds, and the perfect dose of humor, the film energetically tackles its complex and serious subject matters without becoming dreary. It takes viewers on a compelling post-modern feminist journey straight from Heinrich’s mind. From the cinematography to the set design, the filmmaker takes every opportunity to make her point clear, and the point is explicitly anti-capitalist, feminist, and personal.
“Aren’t You Happy?” premiered at the Max Ophüls Prize Film Festival, where it won the Best Feature Film award. It also screened at the 2019 Rotterdam and Götenburg Film Festivals.
Upcoming Screenings
February 14 and 15, 2019 – Berlin Critics Week – Berlin
https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=1&v=UkPr_Ep3kro
Published monthly, Under the Radar offers a chance for us to highlight works by and/or about women that haven’t received big releases or significant coverage in the press, but are wholly worthy of attention.
To recommend a title for this feature, please email womenandhollywoodinterns@gmail.com.
