Fleeting Happiness

Most people in the world attempt to find happiness in their everyday lives. The wish for happiness drives many of the choices that people make in their lives. In each of the films, different directors attempted to find the happiness and see if it remains for forever or if happiness is a short fleeting moment in one’s life. In Chen Kaige’s Farewell My Concubine, Deiyi’s happiness does not last as the situations change with the times. While in Ozu Yasujiro’s Late Spring, Noriko attempts to prolong her happiness with her father, but eventually she must get married to achieve her own happiness and live her own life. While in Kurosawa Akira’s Ikiru, Watanabe tries to find happiness in his otherwise monotonous life. In Kim Ki-duk’s Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter, and Spring…, the young monk finds a relationship with a young woman and lives the temple to live with her. Each of these films show how happiness is achieved or later found is fleeting and only appears for a moment.

Farewell My Concubine explores the lives and relationship between two actors in the Peking Opera. Dieyi’s relationship with his co-star and best friend is tested as the political and social climate of China changes as well as personal circumstances. Dieyi ties his happiness to his relationship to Xiaolou, in relation to their roles in the theater as the King and his Concubine. As the film continues Dieyi’s happiness waxes and wanes as different political and social structures change in China. One of the moments when Dieyi’s happiness is lost is when he is told that Xiaolou is getting married to a former prostitute, instead of remaining a bachelor with Dieyi. When Xiaolou gets married, Dieyi replaces him with a wealthy benefactor; he tries to replicate the happiness that he felt with Xiaolou. This attempt at holding happiness by replacing people and objects in his life eventually fails. However, happiness soon appears for Dieyi and Xiaolou continue to perform together, however the happiness soon wanes when Dieyi sings for the Japanese for the release of Xiaolou during the war. For Dieyi, happiness is never a constant with short fleeting moments. To keep even more happy moments from disappearing, at the end of the film, Dieyi performs that final song from the opera that he and Xiaolou are most known for. The final performance about fifty years after their first time shows the emotions, specifically the positive emotions held by both Dieyi and Xiaolou when they play the last moments of the play. In the opera, that they perform, the Concubine decides to kill herself when the King realizes that all is lost. In the final scene of the film, Dieyi as the Concubine takes the sword of the King and ends his life. This final action is used by Dieyi to prolong the feelings of happiness that he gains from his relationship with Xiaolou. As Dieyi dies he takes the happiness that he gained from being with Xiaolou with him and attempts to force the feeling to remain forever.

While in Ozu’s Late Spring, Noriko lives with her father and is happy with the whole situation. Throughout the film, Noriko is portrayed as having a warm and loving relationship with her father as she has yet to marry since she was ill with tuberculosis. The relationship morphed from a father and daughter to more one between a husband and wife and the her father, Shukichi felt guilty for holding Noriko back from getting her own life. During the duration of the film, Noriko is pushed to find a husband and finally live her father’s house. When Noriko is finally set up with a suitor shoe does not want to leave her father for fear that he will be lonely or that she will never see him again. During the film, the happiness that both Shukichi and Noriko share is shown during their last family trip to Kyoto to visit a friend. Noriko attempts to speak to her father, when she tries he is asleep, showing how alone Noriko feels in her decision. The darkness of the room coupled with the space between them, shows how Shukichi is pulling away from Noriko to make the separation easier for both of them. Another point of the film, which shows how happiness have exited the lives of Shukichi and Noriko is after her wedding, when Shukichi returns home to find himself alone. Shukichi then peels an apple and as the peel falls to the floor, it is almost all the happiness that was in the film earlier disappeared with the drop of the peel. This scene stands in contrast to one earlier in the film, of when Shukichi returned home and Noriko was there to greet him and they were both happy. In Late Spring, happiness is shown as the living situation between Shukichi and Noriko, but Shukichi must disrupt that when he feels that he is keeping Noriko from the possibilities of new happiness. Personal happiness must be overthrown to give others the opportunity for their own happiness.

In Ikiru, Watanabe Kanji is a worn-down office worker who later discovers he has cancer and is dying. For Watanabe, he has had very little happiness in his life and so when he discovers that he is ill, he looks for happiness in a variety of places. First, he explores the nightlife of his city and tries to retain his lost youth, but that only ends sick after a night spent between bars and dance halls. Another instance of trying to attain happiness is when Watanabe tries to explain his condition to his son, only to be rejected by his family. This scene leads to a series of flashbacks showing how Watanabe cannot relate to his son and how the relationship has suffered from his lack of connection to his family. A third instance of searching for happiness appears in Watanabe’s relationship with Toyo, a young woman employed at his office. Watanabe uses Toyo almost as battery, trying to leech her youth and exuberance for life from her. Toyo shows Watanabe that happiness spans from doing something useful for the community rather than searching for personal happiness. Watanabe works to build a park for children and makes others upset with his actions, but the satisfaction of himself and the children keep him motivated. Watanabe’s happiness is achieved and allows him to die in the snow on the playground that he built. The happiness that Watanabe achieves helps him finally die after a long life. The happiness that Watanabe finds is short-lived, but helps to find satisfaction in his actions and his life.

            In Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter, and Spring…, a young monk lives with a master as he tries to understand the complexities of Buddhism. During the youth of the monk, he meets a young woman and he discovers the joy of love. While he still at the temple, he indulges in his passion and falls in love with the young woman. The young man is happy with the woman and wishes for their relationship to continue. The master warns him that passion will lead to suffering, but he runs away from the temple to be with her. Later in the film, it is discovered that he has murdered the woman when she left him for another man. The happiness that the young man felt was destroyed by his passion and jealousy for the woman. The happiness that young monk felt was fleeting as all moments in this world, according to Buddhism. The young monks belief that his happiness would be ever lasting was misguided since he indulged his worldly desires. Happiness is seen as fleeting since it is nothing in this world is permanent and things are always changing. The push against the nature order of the world would create suffering and happiness will not remain.

            As each of these films has shown, happiness is not ever lasting and will end.  Happiness is created and shared, but must end at some point. In each of these films, there is no traditional ‘happily ever after’ ending as suffering and death mark many of the films. Happiness can compel people to death with the intention of keeping the happiness with them forever, or it wish to have others find happiness can force them to push people away. Understanding that happiness is not ever lasting marks the films as understanding the ever-changing nature of the world and that no one can feel happiness forever. Happiness as fleeting as shows a potential connection to Japanese concept of mujou, which shows that world is transient and constantly changing.  Dieyi tries to recapture the feelings of happiness he felt with Xiaolou by replacing him with other people, while Shukichi sacrifices his and Noriko’s happiness for a greater potential happiness. Watanabe finds he cannot create nor steal happiness, but must foster it through the community. The young man finds out the difficult way that desire and attachment may lead to momentary happiness, but ends in suffering. Each of the films examines happiness in the context of their respective directors and nations.