Review - 'The Price of Happiness'

"The Price of Happiness" - an 18+ film starring Thai Hoa as the cheating husband - has many flaws in the script and inconsistent acting.

*This article contains spoilers for the movie.

Trailer for 'The Price of Happiness'

Trailer for "The Price of Happiness" - coming to theaters on April 19th. Video : Galaxy

The film is one of the Vietnamese movies that kicked off the box office race during the April 30th - May 1st holiday. Belonging to the family drama genre, the film attracted attention as it marked the return of Thai Hoa in a leading role, after a year of winning numerous film awards.

The film deals with infidelity in marriage – a familiar theme in recent Vietnamese television series. The story revolves around the family of businessman Dinh Cong Thoai (Thai Hoa) and his wife Vo Thuy Duong (Xuan Lan). On the surface, they have a wealthy and happy life, admired by many. Mrs. Duong is a model woman, devoted to her husband and children, often invited to talk shows about family. Thoai is the CEO of a large corporation with a bright future, about to replace his father-in-law (Huu Chau) as chairman. They have two grown children, their son Will (Lam Thanh Nha) recently got married to his girlfriend.

However, the marriage crumbled when Mrs. Duong witnessed her husband's extramarital affair. Hiring an investigator, Duong discovered her husband was seeing several other women. Mrs. Duong tried to uncover the truth, hoping to persuade her husband to return to their home, despite her daughter Nina (Uyen An) advising her to divorce.

Thai Hoa plays the villain, portraying an adulterous husband. Photo: LaLaLand

At 115 minutes, the film feels drawn out due to its slow pace and lack of climax . In his directorial debut, director Ngoc Lam chose to concentrate the plot twist in the last 5 minutes, dedicating the preceding time to building up the storyline. However, this diminishes the film's appeal, as much of the story is introduced through the trailer.

The plot development suffers from numerous logical flaws. The opening event, which initiates the turmoil in Mrs. Duong's family, is when the character discovers her husband's infidelity with her daughter-in-law on their son's wedding night. Many viewers find this detail contrived. Duong Binh Nguyen, the author of several literary works, believes this scene is one of the film's biggest shortcomings due to its lack of psychological logic. "The female protagonist's revenge story is often tiresome and fails to build momentum for a climax," Binh Nguyen commented.

The dialogue of many characters sometimes doesn't fit the plot. For example, Thoai constantly blames his wife for making him feel suffocated in his own home, which led to his infidelity, but his actions demonstrate that his philandering nature is inherent. Will is angry at his mother for making his life feel confined, but throughout the film, Mrs. Duong is portrayed as a devoted family woman who hasn't done anything like her husband and children accuse her of.

A scene of Mr. Thoai with his mistress (Tram Anh). Photo: LaLaLand

The director overuses tragic elements in the form of melodrama to evoke tears from the audience. Besides the main story about Duong's marriage, the relationship between Will and his boyfriend is a secondary storyline, interwoven to convey a message of being true to the LGBT community. However, the scenes featuring this couple are exploited in a formulaic way with many tearful scenes, failing to convince viewers of the film's love story.

Inconsistent acting is a weakness of the film. Nina is the next role played by Uyen An – Tran Thanh's sister – after her role as Binh Minh in Mai , released during the Lunar New Year of the Year of the Dragon. However, the 25-year-old actress's performance was lackluster, mainly appearing in scenes where Nina advises and encourages her mother to divorce. Lam Thanh Nha's acting in many scenes felt theatrical, and her dialogue lacked naturalness. Xuan Phuc – a film vlogger in Ho Chi Minh City – commented: "I feel the actors didn't really understand their characters; they only cried and laughed as the director instructed."

Xuan Lan takes on her first leading role in a feature film. Photo: LaLaLand

Compared to many recent Vietnamese films, the film's cinematic techniques are quite outdated. In a final scene, when Mrs. Duong smashes a series of family photos and burns a commemorative picture, many viewers commented that the filming style resembled music videos from the 2000s. The special effects were underdeveloped in many places; for example, the photo of Mr. Thoai with his mistress clearly shows Thai Hoa's face photoshopped onto the co-star.

On a film forum with over 200,000 members, many viewers praised Thai Hoa as a standout performer in the film. Watching the April 18th screening, actor Huy Khanh commented that his senior colleague successfully embodied the character, especially in the last five minutes, making the audience believe in Mr. Thoai's obsessive guilt. Xuan Lan also delivered a solid performance, given ample screen time, from a long-suffering wife witnessing her husband's infidelity to planning her revenge. After two days of release, the film grossed 12 billion VND, leading the domestic box office this weekend, according to Box Office Vietnam.

Mai Nhat

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