When Genial Sigve (Henrik Rafaelsen) and his wife Elisabeth (Maibritt Saerens) arrive in a backwater Norwegian town, they find a pair of fast friends in their landlords and neighbours: the effervescent and impulsive Kaja (Agnes Kittelsen) and her taciturn husband, Eirik (Joachim Rafaelsen). Even their adopted Ethiopian son, Noa (Ram Shihab Ebedy), finds a kindred spirit in their new neighbours’ son, Theodor (Oskar Hernæs Brandsø). But when the two couples’ internal troubles begin to surface and sexual chemistry begins to wreak havoc on their dully ordered lives, things begin to change. Maybe for the better.
Domestic drama is always a complicated affair, so director Anne Sewitsky brings in a Greek chorus to make sense of the two families’ complicated relationships. Along with the comically unsettling dynamic of Theodor’s bigoted understanding of Noa’s home country (one of their scenes notably raised hackles at the Sundance Film Festival), HAPPY HAPPY is a flirtatious comedy that teases with slightness before going straight for the jugular, finding both pain and healing in infidelity.