Where do you start with Happiness? The jet-black comedy/drama centres around three sisters, their families and the people they encounter in their lives. Most of the characters have a dark side and the film explores the seedy underbelly of suburban life. Not an earth-shattering premise, no, but it was just how dark the dark sides were that offended some. The film sparked controversy for its sexual themes, particularly the always taboo subject of pedophilia. If pedophilia is explored in films, it is usually pretty clear-cut that it is a morally reprehensible thing and that any perpetrator must receive their comeuppance. In Happiness, however, writer/director Todd Solondz tackled the subject with an uneasy mixture of tenderness and comedy. Despite winning the International Critics Prize at Cannes, the film was denied entry to the Sundance Film Festival and distributor Universal Pictures refused to release it. That forced the company that produced it, Good Machine, to buy back the film and release it themselves. When it was slapped with the box-office death NC-17 rating, it chose instead to release it without a rating. The lack of advertising, coupled with the negative press, meant that the film barely made back its $3m production costs, but it has become a cult favourite since.
