Conflict in Families – ‘Happy New Year, Colin Burstead’
The past week I’ve made an effort to catch up with the films of Ben Wheatley. Wheatley is a multiple award winning English filmmaker, whose films move in genres like thriller, psychological horror and black comedy. Films like Down Terrace (2009), Kill List (2011), Sightseers (2012) and A Field in England (2013) are within those genres.
His latest film Happy New Year, Colin Burstead from 2018 steps somewhat beyond that territory. It is an ensemble drama with a mix of tragedy and black comedy. It is about a family reunion on New Year’s Eve in a mansion in Dorset, bringing around 20 people together many of them dreading to meet one another. Colin has rented the mansion in order to bring the whole family and some friends together to have a good time. His reasons are ambiguous, his face never lightening up when he speaks about the family.
From the very first moment things get tense and unpleasant. Several complain at arrival about the place being a four hours drive away from where they live. Colin’s parents immediately after arrival step into the roles that have been destructive all along. The slightest chance of things going smoothly is destroyed when Gini, Colin’s sister, tells that she has invited the estranged brother David, who left his wife and two children five years ago and moved to Germany. Colin is unforgiving and has not wanted to see his brother in these five years. Now David appears at the party with his new German partner.
As it is with large family reunions, different plots and conversations go on at the same time. Wheatley has chosen to show that with fast changes of clips, sometimes in the middle of a conversation it moves away to another conversational clash and then comes back into the earlier conversation. That makes it hard in the beginning to know who is who and to know what they are talking about, but soon enough one settles into the different storylines.
When you have grown up in a bigger family, it is not hard to recognize characters, roles and grudges. It makes you think about the nature of conflict. How difficult it is to move on when a person important to you like a parent or a brother has not been for you the one you hoped for. How people within a family keep evading to talk about things that hurt. How people within a family decide not to engage out of fear to get involved in something they cannot handle. It makes you think about the possibility of good reconciliations. That choices like not to engage and not wanting to forgive or forget, that refusing to give others a second chance effectively block any relational progress.
I can recommend a plunge into the Burstead family, although I am aware that you then choose to spend 90 minutes in the company of not particularly sympathetic and helpful people.
Rinus, August 2020
*trailer and images posted for non commercial purposes under fair use of copyright material in recommendation of the film
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Thanks Rinus for the film recommendation. Childhood family roles seem so difficult to escape even after decades of being away from the family home. When I return to my parent’s house, I have to work very hard to be who I am now and not merely react in the established patterns of childhood. Reading your review reinforces my desire to live as my adult self and not fall into the roles that others are so eager for me to take.
I watched this last night as it is currently available on BBC iPlayer. I think you are bang on Rinus, with your synopsis of the film and of the unpleasantness that weaves throughout. I was left feeling very unsatisfied with the way things panned out.
I wondered – Are good intentions enough even if the outcomes are bad (both Colin’s and his sister’s)? What is required to properly deal with past hurts? Was what David did enough? (no it wasn’t for me). Was the outcome fair on Colin?
The tensions were very familiar in terms of inter-personal and family dynamics. At least they were addressed in some way in the film and eventually called out after years of festering.
What surprised me most was the Britishness of the film (a good thing) and just how funny some of it was – even if tragic-funny. Funny because it was reflecting things that are true.
Thanks, Ju, for these important questions you ask about the nature of reconciliation in a family. I agree that this film gives a lot to discuss! So fun to share a film experience!