Disillusioned and depressed with the tedium of his existence, psychiatrist Hector (Simon Pegg) spends his days dispensing advice to patients who never seem to get any happier. He feels like a luxury item for the wealthy who should be happy but aren’t and he feels like a fraud because he’s telling people how to be happy when he isn’t happy himself. He tells his girlfriend (Rosamund Pike) that he needs to get away and research what makes people happy. He embarks on an adventure in search for happiness and as the viewers, we get to go along with him. But does he discover the magic formula that makes people happy?

***WARNING: This review contains spoilers!***

This film opens with a strange dream. Hector is flying in an open cockpit plane with a dog in the seat behind him. As he loops the plane, the dog falls out and Hector doesn’t realize it at first. The dog, which will appear throughout the film along with Hector’s younger self, is symbolic of something Hector lost and cannot seem to recover. A loss than needs to be healed, though he does not know how to heal it.

When he awakes from his nightmare, it’s his girlfriend, Clara who is waking him to start his day. She’s more like a mother than a lover, really. She manages his clothes, she makes his breakfast, she packs his lunch, and you get the impression that she enjoys the ritual and that Hector takes it for granted.

Hector is a wealthy psychiatrist who half-listens to people complain all day about banal problems. He has a sincere desire to help but he doesn’t know how to guide people to happiness. And that’s mostly because he is unhappy himself.

It’s clear from the images we see around his office, that Hector has always dreamed of adventure and travel but it’s also clear that these dreams went dormant sometime in his childhood.

One day, he finally snaps at one of his clients. And the interaction leads him to an impulsive decision to go on a journey in search of what makes people happy. He announces his intentions to Clara who is surprised and a little worried, but chooses to be fully supportive. The truth is, Clara is a lovely person and you get the idea that Hector really doesn’t deserve her. Eventually, Hector will come to realize that as well.

Hector begins his journey, which is really a pilgrimage, in China. On the plane he meets a business man, Edward (Stellan Skarsgard) and shares his quest to find what makes people happy. Edward scoffs at the idea and decides he wants to show Hector what real happiness is. For Edward, happiness is having the money to do whatever you want whenever you want, especially indulging in whatever pleasures you desire.

He puts Hector up in a lavish hotel, takes him out for a delicious meal, takes him on a limo ride to a fancy club and there Hector meets a beautiful woman named Ying (Ming Zhao). All the while, Hector is jotting down ideas about happiness in a journal given to him as a gift from Clara. When he meets Ying and she returns with him to his hotel room, he writes that maybe happiness is loving two women at the same time. As the viewer, we see again and again how immature Hector is. We admire his quest, but it is difficult to admire him sometimes.

WARNING: There is some mild nudity and sexual content in this film and this is one of the places where that occurs. Nothing physical takes place between Hector and Ying, but she is nude in this scene and you do see part of her body. The film is Rated R, mostly for foul language.

Hector and Ying agree to meet the next day for lunch. When they do, it is revealed that Ying is a prostitute hired by Edward for Hector. Hector feels tricked by Ying and interestingly, Ying feels tricked by Hector.

From the lights and sounds of the city, Hector visits a Buddhist monastery, which seems to be a dead end without any satisfying answers to what makes people happy.

He decides to go to Africa, where one of his oldest friends is serving as a doctor. Meanwhile, things with Clara are not great. Hector’s search for happiness has given her room to think now that she is not having to take care of his every need and she’s beginning to ask some questions about him and their relationship. We see Hector’s immaturity on display again as he gets angry with Clara because she is going out for the evening instead of staying on a Skype call with him.

In Africa, Hector reconnects with an old friend who is running a clinic for the poor of the area. He also encounters a drug dealer named Diego (Jean Reno), whom he helps by recommending better medication for his depressed wife. Later, after drinking too much at a party, he is passed out in a taxi that gets stolen by two men. When they realize he is in the car, they take him to their boss, a local drug lord who is prepared to kill him. Hector’s life is spared when he shows the drug lord the pen of Diego which he had used to write the prescription for his wife. After being liberated, he runs through the darkness feeling fully alive for the first time in many years.

From Africa, he travels to Los Angeles to reconnect with an old flame, Agnes (Toni Collette) who is now married with two children and one on the way. There is a powerful scene between them in which Agnes confronts Hector with his immaturity and how he lives in a world of fantasy. It is that constant pursuit to make his life conform with his fantasy that keep him unhappy.

Agnes puts Hector in contact with a Professor Coreman (Christopher Plummer) who is studying the science of happiness. Hector is connected to a machine that measures emotional responses and he is asked to think about something happy, something sad, and something scary. As Coreman views the screen displaying the centers of the brain that “light up” when triggered by Hector’s memories, he reveals to Agnes that the responses show that Hector does not have the emotional responses of a full-grown man. They are shallow. Something is blocking him.

Clara calls Hector while he is connected to the machine and their conversation is one that is heartfelt and raw and emotional and in that conversation, Hector is able to break the fear of loss that has kept him bound for so long. He is able to accept the reality of his life and see that there is happiness in it. He no longer needs or wants the fantasy. And in doing so, he experiences the full range of human emotion all at once, which is what life is really like after all.

Why I Recommend It

I recommend this film as much for what it lacks as what it contains.

It is interesting that in Hector’s search for happiness he never once seeks God. It is assumed that happiness can only be found within yourself and in how you manage the circumstances of your life and indeed that is the ultimate conclusion and in that sense, it is an unsatisfying one for any Christian watching this movie.

Hector’s search for happiness leads him to encounter many kinds of people from all walks of life, each of whom are on the same search and have different ways of trying to find it. That may be money and comfort or family and friends or service to others. Some of them are truly happy and some of them only pretend to be. But in the end, one cannot help but think like Solomon, “Vanity of vanities, says the Preacher, vanity of vanities! All is vanity.” (Ecclesiastes 1:2)

There are some funny moments in this film and some beautiful ones. It will definitely make you question your own search for happiness and where it might be found and that is good. But, as a Christian, it should also help you to think more deeply about your walk with Christ and where true JOY is found because happiness is a poor substitute for joy.

Questions for Reflection and Discussion

• As Christians, what can we Receive from this film? What can we Redeem? What must we Reject?
• What is good, true, and beautiful in this film?
• What do you think is the underlying philosophy of this film? What conclusions do you think they are trying to “prove”?
• How does the way this film defines happiness compare with what the Scripture says about happiness and joy?
• How would you describe the difference between happiness and joy?
• Where has your search for happiness taken you in your life?

Next week: Sense and Sensibility.