Summaries

A middle-aged woman half-buried in soil chatters away to a taciturn man, who lives in a hole behind her. Later, she is buried up to her neck, and the man does not seem to be present.

"Happy Days" is an adaptation of Samuel Beckett's challenging absurdist drama, a play most would deem unfilmable. Faithfully adhering to Beckett's minimalist original, a black parody of love, marriage, and the human search for meaning in an unfathomable universe, the piece consists of but two pathetic characters. One, wife Winnie, spends the duration of the drama half-buried in a pile of dirt; in true Beckett fashion, her predicament is never explained. The other character, husband Willie, is almost never seen. As Winnie, Dublin stage and screen veteran Rosaleen Linehan is exceptional as the trapped woman clinging to the empty, arbitrary routines and rituals of life, ever hopeful that "this is going to be a happy day".—Dog Breath

Details

Keywords
  • title directed by female
  • looking at oneself in a mirror
  • vaseline
  • feeling one is being watched
  • nail file
Genres
  • Drama
Release date Aug 30, 2000
Countries of origin Ireland
Official sites beckettonfilm.com
Language English
Filming locations Tenerife, Canary Islands, Spain
Production companies Blue Angels Films Tyrone Productions

Box office

Tech specs

Runtime 1h 19m
Color Color
Sound mix Dolby Digital
Aspect ratio 1.33 : 1

Synopsis

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