The Secret of Happiness

It's difficult to write this without giving away spoilers...let's just say there's a blend of comedy, drama and thriller unlike anything else out there. Given its minimalist setting (3 actors on a balcony for the entire film) and its reliance of dialogue and acting in its entirety, this is truly a gem.

This is easily one of the best films of 2018..

I watched the movie in the morning, and still in the afternoon i am under its influence. First Romanian movie for me, and waw. It is very rarely that some movie suprise me so much. I am reading now that there is a very popular screenplay in Romania, from which the scenario is adapted. I recommend this movie without further explanation, let be suprised!!!

The movie starts in a very relaxed situation, with a drink, a smoke and abstract discussions about life. Almost silly.

It progresses ever so gently with minute twists and turns.

Whatever you think this was about gets challenged. It gains intensity, until it all cascades down with a palpable sense of impeding doom.

The characters are almost psychologically waterboarded.

The writing is genius, as this is all done mostly with dialogue.

I agree with how Toma reacted when he found out the truth. That's how you roll in The Shire.

A sick concept, but the best way to unmask the ugly truth.

10/10 from the director to actors. Amazing plot!

The action of 'Secretul Fericirii' ('The Secret of Happiness'), Vlad Zamfirescu's debut film happens on the terrace of a modern urban apartment, the heroes are prosperous young people (call them yuppies if you want), the problems they face are related to personal relationships. There is no hint about the immediate Romanian reality, the story could have been located in many other places in the world, which is in fact a proof that the Romanian cinematic landscape is much more diverse and perhaps even more interesting than what you would guess from watching only the most famous films of the 'new wave'.

Alexandru Popa's script uses the closed space formula (well, you may call it open, in this case, it's a fairly spacious terrace) with several (few) characters and the action taking place in 'real time'. In this case, there are three heroes, two men and one woman, a triangle representing three points of a quartet consisting of two couples of very good friends. One of the friends makes a strange proposal, a game if you want, outside of the accepted 'social norms'. Secret passions and and truths hidden even among the best friends begin to be gradually revealed.The intrigue is very intelligently built, there are plenty of surprises along the way that keep the attention and interest of the audience, and the second part of the film takes the viewers in a very different mood than the beginning. There are quite a lot of surprises and a final punch as well.

The formula is of course not very original, I have seen in recent years some films of this kind, about the same type of décor and social environments - " Carnage " written by Yasmina Reza and brought to screen by Roman Polanski, or Paolo Genovese's "Perfetti sconosciuti "are the ones that immediately come to mind. We could call the formula 'theatrical' , but in this case the theater-film relationship was inverse than usual. First was the screenplay and the movie was made, and only then was the stage play written and put on stage. The play is successful in Romania, and I would not wonder if it will be successfully exported to other countries as well.

First time director Vlad Zamfirescu had the chance of a very good script, and proved a good mastery of the cinematographic means. He also plays one of the three main roles, and his partners give him a good replica. Dialogues flow naturally, the tension is built with patience, surprises appear at the right times. It's an excellent debut, certainly eased by the fact that the formula is close to theater, a field in which Vlad Zamfirescu already has experience as director. Such a debut sets the expectation for the future at a high level, and if he continues his career as a film director, he will have to show that he masters the job also when moving away from the world and the formulas of the theater. I am look forward to see and hear from him in the future.