The New York based magazine ‘The Village Voice’ carried an article with the title ”The Best Film of the Year is not coming to theaters – it’s on Netflix”. The article is about the Georgian film My Happy Family (2017) directed by Nana Ekvitishmili and Simon Gross, who earlier in 2013 made the successful, price-winning coming-of-age film In Bloom.

My Happy Family is about the 52-year old Manana who lives with three generations under one roof. She and her husband, a daughter and her husband, her son and two elderly parents share a cramped apartment in Tbilisi. The film starts with her seeking a rental apartment in order to live on her own.  All are shocked about her decision to move out.

We meet in this film, life in a strongly patriarchal society. The men sing, the women work. But we can’t shrug it off that we live in another time and context. We soon become aware of that these kind of emotions can and will happen everywhere where people for different reasons, under the pressures of everyday life, are losing their emotional presence for one another.

A huge emotional deficit has grown inside Manana and hardly anyone is aware of it. None of the men around her, neither her husband, nor her brother, nor her son-in-law understands what’s bothering her. At the surface this is a happy family with care and concern for each other. But none of the men is aware of how they are eroding her emotional well-being. For 52 years she has accepted her place and role, but now her inner reserves have dried out and she has to break out of this environment to survive.

The emotions are deep, beautiful and powerful. It is not just a tale of one woman’s liberation. There is obviously inner, emotional pain in Manana. There is also pain among the others in the household. There are shifts in feelings of allegiance within the family when she is criticised. She continues after the break-out to be pulled into the disputes and heartbreaks of her family. The end is left open to our imagination.

My advice is: Don’t miss this film! It may teach us something really important! If we miss the signals, a seemingly happy relationship or family may crumble and fall apart!

Rinus

*Image posted for non commercial purposes
under 'fair use' of copyrighted material in recommendation of the film