Something Like Happiness

What is SOMETHING LIKE HAPPINESS about?

Basically it’s about young people maturing into adults. Monika grows from a girl into a woman and Tonik from a boy into a man. They run into difficulties and face these problems together, and in this way they change. They try to find themselves, to discover what they are really made of.

Is this theme something very close to you?

It’s a common theme. Everyone asks themselves, “Who am I? What am I doing here?” Each of us deals with this. It shouldn’t be considered a specific theme of mine.

How did you decide on the actors?

I wrote the script specifically with Tatiana Vilhelmova, Pavel Liska, Anna Geislerova and Marek Daniel in mind.

Is the film pure fiction, or is it based on material from real life?

The relationship between Tonik (Pavel Liska) and Monika (Tatiana Vilhelmova) came more from my imagination than from any real experience. But their situation – boy really likes a girl with whom he is best friends; she really likes him too, but she doesn’t love him because she has someone else – this is an archetypal relationship. Dasha’s story is their catalyst. The problems that afflict Dasha (Anna Geislerova) also lead Tonik and Monika, through their having to deal with her, to get to know each other much more deeply. Monika sees how Tonik rises to the occasion in critical moments, sees the man in him revealed. Tonik has it easiest in a way because he has loved Monika since childhood – he’s loved her from the first moment he saw her and he’ll love her forever. For him it has been a situation of waiting patiently.

In the course of shooting, your script went through numerous changes. Did you write these changes by yourself? Were you communicating with the producer and actors? Are you open to collaboration?

I always leave things open, torturing both myself and others. It’s not some concept I have. I just don’t think I have all the answers. I’m not a professional, more of a permanent film amateur.

Tonik faces a dilemma: stay with his aunt on the farm or return to the tower block where he lived with his parents.

Tonik doesn’t in fact face this dilemma. He’s happy with his life on the farm. His concept of happiness, a dream he’s had since a child, is that he will live there with Monika. At the end of the story he understands that this dream is nonsensical. The farmhouse has always been falling apart, from the beginning. It’s surrounded by factories, dumps and mines shafts – there isn’t any nature left. Tonik matures out of his childhood dream.

And what about you? City or country life?

I personally prefer life in the country. I like the fresh air, views of nature and the quiet that surrounds everything. People don’t have to be around hundreds of other people on a daily basis.

They say never work with animals or children…

Good advice?

It was difficult. We didn’t film much with the animals. In the beginning we wanted to feature one goat but fortunately we dumped that idea early on. After some problems I cut him out of the screenplay. Doing the same with the kids was out of the question. Filming with children is difficult because you have to adapt to them, to come to understand them, if you want them to perform naturally. They are the ones who determine the rhythm and tenor of a scene. We never tried to teach them how to react. Every reaction is spontaneous. It was necessary to create for them an atmosphere in which they could act naturally. It was incredible work. An adventure. Truly, we never really knew how it was going to turn out. For the actors it was exciting and inspiring to have to react to concrete unexpected actions. Every scene with the children went in unforeseen directions; they brought authenticity to the story, an inner forcefulness. I can say that right from the start, everything was filmed around them. The children are the most precious thing in the film, as they are in real life.

SOMETHING LIKE HAPPINESS is also a film about friendship. How important are friends to you?

Friendship is one of the most basic positive forces man has in the world. Thank god I have many friends. Friendship and love are the basic things which help us overcome everything in life which is hard and difficult. Reasons for living.