Moody and emotional, Days of Happiness is a French language film that follows the story of Emma (Sophie Desmarais), a conductor with an orchestra in Montreal, who has her sights set on greatness. Through complex relationships and heated dialogue, the film tells the story of love, trauma, and finding your own path.
The article contains spoilers for the film Days of Happiness
Emma is always searching for more. More from her family, her partner, her career, and most of all, herself. However, she’s often not able to actually obtain more from any of these situations, something that continues to cause problems throughout the film’s nearly two hour run time.
Throughout Days of Happiness Emma struggles in a variety of relationships. First, with her father who also works as her agent. He becomes more and more demanding, secretive, and intense as the film continues, causing intense tension between them.
In a startling scene in a vehicle, Emma confronts her father about not inviting her to his own father’s funeral. When she pushes for more information about her grandfather her father snaps, screaming at Emma while relaying stories of his childhood. He reveals he was abused by his father, who also beat his mother. While her father speeds down the road,continuing to berate her, Emma begs him to slow down, apologizing for prying. This scene sets the tone for the continued demise of their relationship throughout the film.
This intensity and abuse destroys Emma’s relationship with her mother, who also faces the wrath of her father and blames Emma for his outbursts. By the time the credits roll in she has severed ties with her father both as a daughter and an artist in an act of self-preservation, breaking the cycle of abuse within her family.
Days of Happiness also heavily focuses on Emma’s complicated relationship with Naëlle (Nour Belkhiria), a cellist in the orchestra who has recently left her husband. However, to further complicate things, Naëlle is also mother to a young boy who Emma grows close to throughout the movie. In a particularly sweet scene, her son finds Emma sleeping on the couch, cuddling up next to her and stroking her face lovingly. Though it’s not explicitly said, this is clearly a turning point for Emma in her relationship with Naëlle, and she begins plans to create a life with her and her son.
However, Naëlle continues to refuse to 100 per cent commit to Emma. It is later revealed that Naëlle and her husband are in therapy working through their problems, a further indicator to Emma that her partner is not fully committed to her. She also worries about living with Emma and building a life with the conductor due to her status as a single mother.
In addition to Naëlle’s commitment issues, she and Emma face a variety of barriers in their relationship. It seems that Naëlle is insecure within their relationship and in her own sexuality, with her telling Emma that she worries about how her family would feel. The struggle and conflict Naëlle feels as a mother, queer woman, and woman of colour are palpable to queer people in similar situations, and both Belkhiria and Desmarais give emotional performances that make these situations feel very real to the viewer, making it easy to forget the film is fictional.
The drama and intensity of these relationships do take a toll on Emma’s performance as a conductor. Despite being filled with anger and sadness, her critics’ biggest note is that Emma does not “feel” the music as she conducts it. This is another obstacle she consistently works to overcome as the film progresses, a relatable concept for young people trying to balance accelerating in their career with finding love.
Despite being at the very beginning of her career (and adult life) there is a sense of urgency and desperation in the way Emma carries herself. This desperation, combined with the theme of performing arts and the dark cinematography make the film Days of Happiness reminiscent of Black Swan, starring Natalie Portman (2010). Meanwhile, the conflicts and relationship dynamics may have queer film fanatics thinking back to the 2013 release of French sapphic film Blue is the Warmest Colour.
While the themes of abuse in this film may be triggering to some with similar experiences, Days of Happiness is a coming-of-age film that covers very real and raw conflicts that most people, no matter their age, race, or sexuality can relate to.
