Goodbye happiness | Four brothers and a funeral ★★ ½

The day after their father’s funeral, four brothers who are opposed in life return to their childhood home in the Magdalen Islands. Accompanied by their wives and children, they want to pay a last tribute to the deceased. When the youngest loses the urn containing the ashes, conflicts begin and memories spring back.

Luc Boulanger
Press

In line with The great seduction and of Starbuck, Ken Scott presents a new popular comedy, carried by a cast of star actors and shot in a postcard setting. However, this family story, very predictable and full of good feelings, does not take off as much as its previous successes.

Goodbye happiness addresses conflicts which, with the death of a parent, are sometimes exacerbated in a family. Newly orphaned, four brothers try to reconnect by going to the Magdalen Islands, to the summer home of their childhood. A symbolic place. But the paternal heritage will make them experience more intense adventures than their mourning.

Out of inspiration

The director and screenwriter created his fictional family around four archetypes of men, around their forties. The eldest, Charles-Alexandre, played by Louis Morissette, is a wealthy businessman who wants to follow in his father’s footsteps, without having his kindness. The youngest, Nicolas, played by François Arnaud, is a distracted cook who loves to enjoy life (he has four toddlers by four different women!). Between the two, there is the nostalgic Thomas (Antoine Bertrand), very confused by the death of his father; and the retired professor / author, William (Patrice Robitaille), worried about his lack of inspiration which prevents him from writing his play.

Alas, the syndrome of the blank page of the character of Robitaille seems to have reached the screenwriter of the film. Its main roles are all archetypal: the profiteer, the epicurean, the nostalgic and the intellectual. The problem is, they’re just their archetype onscreen.

Louis Morissette plays his role of businessman shameless. The actor seems to chair the board of directors of a multinational whenever he replies to his brothers or to the inhabitants of the village. His three comrades are doing a little better, but seem to be looking for the right tone. As for the female characters, they are underused, even erased; except that of Julie Le Breton, the Madelinienne of confidence who takes care of the house of the deceased.

The crossover of situations leaves little room for emotion (for a feature film on mourning, this is problematic). Funny moments make you smile, despite the clichés. The landscapes and the coast are abundantly photographed in all their splendor.

At one point, the four brothers go to play golf to get together for the first time. We imagine coming to a pivotal scene and learning a little more about the protagonists and their families. However, this scene is only a pretext to see them “swing” their ball towards the ocean. An emblematic image of this film, which is more an ode to the beauty of the Islands than a touching work on a universal subject.

Indoors

Drama

Goodbye happiness

Ken scott

Louis Morissette, Antoine Bertrand, Patrice Robitaille, François Arnaud

1 h 50

★★½