In this inventive Norwegian comedy, Kaia (Agnes Kittelsen) is a school teacher who is a very gregarious and cheerful person. Much to her dismay and discomfort, her husband Eirik (Joachim Rafaelsen) treats her with disdain and her son Theodor (Oskar Hernaes Brandso) sides with his father against her. At one point they stare her down with glaring and hostile looks. She runs from the kitchen upset and feeling persecuted. No wonder Kaia wants another child, preferably a little girl. But that doesn't seem to be a possibility. Eirik's main passions in life are watching wrestling on television and going on week-long hunting trips.
This unhappy couple's existence is set on a new course with the arrival of Sigve (Henrik Rafaelsen) and Elisabeth (Maibritt Saerens) who are sophisticated city folk. She is a lawyer, and he keeps fit by running. They have an adopted African son Noa (Ram Shihab Ebedy) from Ethiopia. Kaia thinks they are the perfect couple but one evening, Sigve admits that they have come to the country to heal their relationship after Elisabeth's affair. This opens the door for the love-starved Kaia, who has not had sex for a year, to pleasure Sigve. A few days later they are having an affair which brings joy to both of them. He feels admired and she feels adored: things both their mates have not been able to provide. Meanwhile, the troubled Theodor is playing games with Noa in which he is the master and the African boy is his slave.
Happy, Happy is Norwegian filmmaker Anne Sewitsky's directorial debut. The screenplay by Ragnhild Tronvoll tackles a very controversial subject: the redemptive powers of an extramarital affair to clarify relationships and to lend zest to life. Some male a capella singers present their indirect commentary on the proceedings with ballads, hymns, and spirituals.
Sigve and Elisabeth join the church choir and convince Kaia to do so as well. She thinks she cannot sing, but her self-confidence is so bolstered by her affair that she volunteers to be the soloist in a program. Her cautious rendition of "Amazing Grace" captures and conveys the redemption she feels inside. Her affair has set her on a new course in which we can rejoice. In a note on the meaning of the film, Anne Sewitsky has written:
"I wanted to tell the story of an insistently happy person. No matter how hopeless and tragic the world may be, she smiles. Kaja lives through others, wants to be like everyone else, maybe for want of individual foundations. Her driving force becomes happiness: she's made joy her survival strategy."
Special features on the DVD include the U.S.theatrical trailer and the international trailer.
