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My Happy Family

Posted on April 13, 2021April 17, 2021 by Village Vidiot

  “My Happy Family,” April 13, 2021 (2017), Netflix (Georgian with English subtitles.)  I really liked this well-acted Georgian film written and directed by Nana Ekytimishvili..  It provides an engaging and informative look at the creaking process of change and movement in this developing Caucasian nation.  52-year old Manana (Ia Shugliashvili), a teacher of Georgian literature, lives with her husband, two daughters (one married), one son, and her parents in –to say the least—an old, over-crowded, and frantic Tblisi apartment.  The bickering and complaining from her mother and children never stop.  The noise is endless.   Meanwhile the silence between her and her husband Sosa (Merab Nimidze) is overwhelming.  One day, she simply moves out to her own apartment she’s rented for this evacuation.  It violates all the ‘rules’ of proper Georgian society, heavy on male privilege.  All families, says her mother, are like theirs.  And what has her husband ever done to her?  He’s not abusive, he’s not a drunk, he’s not a gambler.  But what is he?  We follow her becoming in her own space, learning about the husband she doesn’t really know as she goes to a high school reunion, connects with old friends, and has a quiet cup of tea.  This is a wonderful look at the realities of Georgian daily life and society.  Kids live on their computers, but music is made in the home as people entertain themselves at parties.  It is a very interesting look at gender roles.  A fascinating cold ending speaks to both the only quiet dinner between the husband and wife (what might have been) and the conversation that is to come

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