Hector's Journey or The Search for Happiness

Hector (Simon Pegg) is actually convinced that he leads a happy life. He has a lovely girlfriend (Rosamund Pike) and the psychiatrist always has an open ear for his patients. But one day a realization comes over him and completely destroys his illusion of a contented life: he simply does not succeed in making his patients happy. And the reason is quickly found, because Hector himself does not know what real happiness is. Driven by the desire to find out if true happiness even exists and if he can find it for himself, Hector makes a radical decision: he leaves everything behind, both his beloved Clara, as well as his well-run practice and his fancy London flat and embarks on a journey around the globe, which brings many dangers and disappointments, but which will also provide Hector with important insights in his search for happiness.

With his novel Hector's Journey, or The Search for Happiness, Frenchman François Lelord wrote a wonderful feel-good novel that stormed bestseller lists worldwide and spawned even more sequels. For the screen adaptation, which was made under German-Canadian production, the British director Peter Chelsom (Funny Bones) could be won, who has tried to carry over the playful tone of the original also in the film. The film version of the psychiatrist is also supposed to undertake his search for happiness with open eyes and, above all, an open mind. He should also discover great wonders in small things and the audience should feel exactly that.

Although he had to change some aspects of the original and the childlike naivety with which Hector begins to discover the world in the book is not really recognizable here, the film version of the bestseller still works very well overall. This is partly because Lelord has simply written a beautiful story, which Chelsom and his two co-screenwriters have adapted coherently. Here, humorous moments, touching scenes and uninhibitedly beautiful kitsch skillfully balance each other out, resulting in a very harmonious overall picture that can always put a big smile on the faces of the audience.

But the fact that the film works is also due to the visual realization and the good actors. The camerawork by Kolja Brandt (North Face), combined with some purposefully used computer effects, makes for truly wonderful images that are often simply beautiful while being just as charming as the acting of lead actor Simon Pegg (Shaun of the Dead, Star Trek). Pegg knows exactly when to use his comedic talents to the fullest and when to just play it very pared down. In this way, he makes Hector an extremely endearing character who is very enjoyable to follow on his adventurous journey.

The film is a little reminiscent of Ben Stiller's The Amazing Life of Walter Mitty, although Hector's Journey or The Search for Happiness has been staged in a more restrained way overall. But both stories have in common that they show that the world can be full of miracles if you dare to break out of your usual everyday life just once. And in both films, happiness is close at hand for the main characters in the end, even if they had to travel to the most remote places in the world to realize it. Of course, this isn't always particularly profound and at times comes across as a bit naive or even clichéd. But is that really disturbing in this case? Here the answer is quite clearly: No! Because just like with Walter Mitty, the fact that the story is kept very simple at its core and doesn't try to satisfy high intellectual demands in a cramped way, makes sure that the viewer's feeling of happiness can fully unfold. This is not to say that Hector's Journey or The Search for Happiness is a stupid film. That's really not the case. But Chelsom fortunately resists the obvious temptation to implement the basic idea of the story in an overly cerebral way, in order to maybe score at renowned festivals or to get praise in the feuilleton. Instead, he has simply created charming, easily accessible feel-good cinema that makes you really happy in a very simple way. And that's for sure: The search for happiness ends for the audience, at least for a short time, directly in the cinema hall. And for that there is then also a: Absolutely worth seeing!

An article by Frankfurt-Tipp