I have mixed feelings about Todd Solondz. I loved Welcome to the Dollhouse, liked parts of Happiness and disliked other parts and Palindromes stayed with me, but in an uncomfortable way. As for Life During Wartime, some of the scenes are interesting and funny in a dark way. I like the parts, but the whole left me cold.  But maybe that was Solondz’s goal.

This film is a sequel of sorts to Solondz’s 1998 Happiness, which examined the lives and problems (some related to sex) of three New Jersey sisters and their families. Life During Wartime focuses again on these characters, but all are played by new actors here.  However, this film can be understood without ever seeing Happiness. Joy (Shirley Henderson) has left husband Allen, a man who cannot stop making obscene phone calls. While visiting her sisters in Florida and L.A, she is plagued by ghost Andy (Paul Reubens).  Sister Trish has three children and is romantically involved with nice guy Harvey (Michael Lerner). Trish’s husband Bill (Ciarán Hinds) is a pedophile who has just been released from jail. Son Timmy (Dylan Riley Snyder) is preparing for his bar mitzvah and thinks his father is dead. Oldest son Billy (Chris Marquette) is in college and knows the truth. Helen (Ally Sheedy) is a successful and self involved writer who wants little to do with her family. Nonetheless, at the end of the film the whole family gathers for Timmy’s bar mitzvah, not quite the happy occasion it should be.

Shirley Henderson shines here, and her odd high voice, big sad eyes and downturned mouth imbue Joy with a fragility that makes her one of the film’s only likable characters.  The underused Ally Sheedy hits all the right notes as narcissistic Helen. Sheedy takes long drags on her cigarettes and speaks slowly with exaggerated dramatic emphasis. She provides much needed comic relief here. I wanted to see more of Sheedy and her character Helen.  Allison Janney seems miscast here as Trish, and gets quite a bit of screen time. Her performance lacks subtlety and seems aimed at getting laughs, while the other actors seem to be playing it straight. Both Paul Reubens as ghost Andy and Ciarán Hinds as former pedophile Bill radiate a sincerity and sadness that make their scenes compelling.

Writer/director Solondz seems interested in exploring the theme of forgiveness here, especially forgiveness for seemingly unforgiveable acts. It is an interesting idea, but there are real problems with its execution. Timmy has some good lines about the nature of forgiveness, but Timmy is fairly unlikeable. I cannot tell if blame goes to the writer, director or actor, but this hampers the film. The film satirizes some easy targets, like the overmedication of children and Florida Jews, and some of this is funny. But this also makes the characters seem like caricatures, and it is hard to be invested in them. So while the last few scenes in the film could be moving, they are undercut by the preceding 90 minutes. And despite all the talk in the film about forgiveness, Solondz lacks empathy for most of his characters. His empathy seems reserved for the pedophile Bill who states, “people can’t help if they are monsters.”   I am starting to find Solondz’s empathy for sexual predators grating.

Life During Wartime is not quite funny enough to be a comedy, or even a dark comedy. It is not quite serious enough to effectively explore its serious themes. But the few serious scenes keep the film from being an effective satire. While trying to be all these things, Life During Wartime achieves none of them. While watching this film I could not help being reminded of the underrated and excellent Coen brothers film, A Serious Man. That film also has a boy’s bar mitzvah as a backdrop to other stories, and succeeds in all areas Life During Wartime does not.

Life During Wartime. Directed by Todd Solondz.  Shirley Henderson (Joy), Allison Janney (Trish), Michael Lerner (Harvey), Dylan Riley Snyder (Timmy), Ciarán Hinds (Bill), Michael K. Williams (Allen), Paul Reubens (Andy), Charlotte Rampling (Jacqueline), Chris Marquette (Billy) and Ally Sheedy (Helen). IFC Films, 2010.

Gail sees a movie appears every Wednesday.

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