THE STORY – Four interconnected characters share their unique realities, highlighting the complexities between genders, generations, and cultures. Rami, a Palestinian from Haifa, is dealing with his Jewish girlfriend’s sudden change of heart about her planned abortion. His mother, Hanan, is facing a financial crisis and becomes entangled in complications while seeking compensation for her daughter’s Fifi accident. Miri is forced to confront her daughter’s depression while also working to undermine her sister’s pregnancy with Rami. Fifi grapples with the guilt of hiding a secret that risks her family’s reputation and her burgeoning relationship with Dr. Walid.
THE CAST – Manar Shehab, Wafaa Aoun, Toufic Danial & Meirav Memoresky
THE TEAM – Scandar Copti (Director/Writer)
THE RUNNING TIME – 124 Minutes
Premiering in the Orizzonti section of the 2024 Venice Film Festival, “Happy Holidays” is the second film from Palestinian writer-director Scandor Copti, following his Oscar-nominated 2009 debut “Ajami.” As with that film, he has worked closely with a cast of nonprofessional actors, exploring improvisational techniques with impressive effect.
The film opens in a hospital in the immediate aftermath of a car accident, where 20-something Fifi (played by ethical fashion entrepreneur Manar Shehab) is dismayed to see her entire family turn up, effectively judging her for having been out in the first place. The remainder of the film is divided into four chapters, with titles like “The Peculiar Story of Rami and the Baby,” each one following a different story. However, there is a degree of overlap.
In the first story, Fifi’s 30-something brother Rami (Toufic Danial) is blindsided when his girlfriend Shirley (Shani Dahari) announces she is pregnant and that she does not want to have an abortion. An ugly rift ensues, with Shirley accusing Rami of being behind a series of anonymous threats to her life. The other stories center on family matriarch Hanan (Wafaa Aoun) and her attempt to matchmake for her children, Shirley’s side of the pregnancy story, and Fifi’s burgeoning relationship with her brother’s friend Wahid (Raed Burbura), while a financial crisis precipitated by Hanan’s husband lurks in the background of each tale.
Copti’s directorial technique (known as the singular drama method) involved shooting the actors as they improvised in real-time, following the action with two hand-held cameras. The impressive results give the action an intimacy and immediacy that is often compellingly tense. However, it presumably also made the editing process something of a headache (it apparently took 15 months), given that he ended up with approximately 200 hours of footage in the process.
The script explores several highly emotive issues, most of which revolve around some form of coercive control, whether it’s a man trying to force a woman to have an abortion or a woman attempting to force her grown-up child into an arranged marriage. Intriguingly, the film does not attempt to demonize characters whose views might be considered unpalatable by Western audiences, even if they are still rendered less sympathetic. The script’s most impressive element is how one crucial piece of information gradually gets revealed throughout the four stories, beginning with the accident (and what starts as a family favor regarding the attendant paperwork) before unexpectedly impacting the matchmaking process. The climax to that story is extremely satisfying and would probably be a punch-to-air moment in a Hollywood version of the same film.
The cast is excellent throughout. Shehab is the standout, as her story bookends the film, and she delivers a charismatic turn that radiates vitality. Similarly, Aoun is a powerful presence as Hanan, and her scenes with Shehab are often heartbreaking.
In addition, Danial and Burbara both deliver sensitive performances as two men struggling with the conflict between cultural conditioning and their own heart’s desires, with quietly devastating results.
