Happiness
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Synopsis
As disturbingly funny as it is audaciously empathetic, auteur of unease Todd Solondz’s portrait of damaged souls reaching out for connection reveals the existential void underneath middle-class suburban “normalcy.” An extraordinary ensemble cast—including Philip Seymour Hoffman, Jane Adams, Lara Flynn Boyle, Ben Gazzara, and Dylan Baker—embodies an array of loosely connected New Jersey deviants, depressives, and misfits, among them a frustrated phone-sex pest, an all-American dad concealing his pedophilic urges, and a lonely woman with a grisly secret, all of whom want just one thing: to be loved. One of the most controversial films of the 1990s, the unflinching Happiness unnerves precisely because it dares to see the humanity in those most often denied it.
Picture 9/10
It seemed unthinkable until now, but Todd Solondz’s Happiness has undergone a rigorous 4K restoration and is now receiving a 4K UHD release from The Criterion Collection. The film is presented in Dolby Vision with a 2160p/24hz ultra high-definition encode, maintaining its original aspect ratio of 1.85:1 on a triple-layer disc. Criterion also includes a standard dual-layer disc featuring a 1080p presentation of the film alongside all of the edition’s special features.
Up until this release, the film’s only home video appearance in North America was on a poorly compressed, single-layer, non-anamorphic DVD from 1999, so the bar for improvement is low. Essentially, just filling out a widescreen TV would be an upgrade! Thankfully, Criterion doesn’t settle for the bare minimum. The film receives a beautiful new 4K scan from the original negative, along with a thorough restoration, making the film look sharper and cleaner than I have to believe it’s ever looked before.
This new 4K edition offers a far more film-like texture than the previous DVD release, though that really shouldn’t be much of a shock. Grain is rendered cleanly, giving the image a natural, tactile feel that was completely lost in the compressed, flat presentation of the 1999 disc. The increased resolution also allows for significantly more detail and texture, particularly in facial close-ups and clothing fabric, where subtle details like wrinkles and patterns (the one on Philip Seymour Hoffman’s jacket for starters) are now far more defined.
One fairly noticeable difference is the color grading. While the original DVD leaned heavily on magentas, this new restoration adopts a greener tint. However, the 4K version’s color balance feels more accurate overall, particularly in skin tones, which no longer have that overly warm, reddish hue. Faces now appear more natural and lifelike, with better shading and depth.
The presentation is also noticeably darker, especially in the low-lit interior scenes, which are frequent throughout the film. These nighttime scenes feature deeper blacks that can occasionally crush out details visible in the DVD version. Typically, this would be a concern, but the DVD’s gamma and contrast levels were clearly off, likely brightened to compensate for the limitations of CRT displays at the time. The DVD may actually be showing more than it should, with scenes appearing overly bright. In contrast, the 4K edition’s darker presentation feels closer to the film’s intended look, with the lighting looking more natural to the setting, and the use of HDR helps retain some detail in the shadows. However, while Dolby Vision enhances many aspects of the image, highlights can, in places, suffer from some clipping, though it’s not all that distracting.
The restoration work is outstanding, with the image looking nearly flawless in terms of print damage throughout most of the film, with little sign of wear. Outside of a handful of transitions, the only notable exception is during a split-screen sequence, created optically, where the picture looks slightly softer and a bit “dupey,” likely due to it being sourced from a later-generation print. However, this is a minor blip in an otherwise remarkable-looking image, something I never thought I’d see happen.
Audio 7/10
Criterion includes the 2.0 surround soundtrack, presented in DTS-HD MA. While not the most dynamic audio presentation, it’s perfectly serviceable. Dialogue is clear and articulate, though it remains fairly level throughout. The music offers slightly broader range in comparison, but rarely reaches any notable highs. Again, it's serviceable.
Extras 5/10
Disappointingly, Criterion includes only a couple of features, though they are solid. The most significant is a new 41-minute conversation between director Todd Solondz and filmmaker Charlotte Wells, who studied under Solondz and worked as a crew member on Wiener-Dog. The conversation starts off a bit rough—Solondz comes across as awkward, and it almost feels like Wells doesn’t want to be there. Thankfully, it seems like initial nerves, because once they find their rhythm, the discussion takes an engaging path, covering the highs and lows of making independent films—or any film, really. Along the way, Solondz shares insights into writing Happiness after the success of Welcome to the Dollhouse, how he showed sections of the script to friends as he wrote for feedback, and how the film’s development took the shape it did. He also talks about casting (to my shock, he was unsure about Philip Seymour Hoffman at first) and the mixed audience reactions, including some test screenings (which Solondz wildly chose to do). The conversation becomes more personal as they discuss Wells’ student work and what Solondz saw in it.
As great as that conversation is, I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t more captivated by Dylan Baker’s 14-minute contribution, where he discusses his character, a “complicated individual.” Baker explains what draws him to playing darker roles, how he mentally prepares for them, and how he balanced his performance, avoiding the extremes of over- or underplaying the character. Though it’s disappointing that Criterion wasn’t able to gather more cast or crew members, Baker was the one I, and likely many others, was most eager to hear from. His insights into acting and embodying complex, unsettling characters make for an incredibly compelling discussion.
The disc rounds out with the film’s trailer (which is amusing for how it tries to sell Happiness as a relatively safe comedy) and an insert featuring an essay on the film by filmmaker and Solondz’s friend Bruce Wagner, one of the individuals Solondz had been showing sections of the script to. As much as I enjoyed the content provided, I can’t help but feel let down by the lack of scholarly material. If ever there was a film in need of academic analysis—whether positive or negative—it’s Happiness. Still, given the film’s home video history, we’re lucky to get anything at all, and for that I'm still grateful.
Closing
I’m disappointed by the limited supplementary material, but honestly, I’m just happy to see the film finally receive a proper edition. The new 4K restoration alone makes this release easy to recommend—provided viewers know what they’re in for with the film.
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