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[Editor’s note: The following contains spoilers for Happiest Season.]
Hulu The happiest season, the lesbian romantic comedy with Mackenzie davis and Kristen stewart, sparked a great conversation around one of its climactic scenes in the days following its November 25 release. Realized by Clea DuVall (Veep, Large city), The happiest season follows couple Abby (Stewart) and Harper (Davis) from Pittsburgh as they return to Harper’s hometown to spend Christmas with her family. What Harper doesn’t mention until the couple are on their way is the fact that she’s still in the closet – something that completely upsets Abby’s expectations for how this trip was going to go. unwind. A majority of The happiest seasonThe runtime shows Harper forcing Abby to lie who also puts her in the closet, and Abby watches Harper pretend to be a version of herself that she doesn’t quite recognize. Things come to a boiling point when, at a family Christmas party, Harper is exposed by her sister and immediately denies that she is gay as Abby watches it all happen. Abby, believing that Harper would never betray her on such a deeply hurtful level, leaves the house to clear her head.
The timing is shocking for several reasons. The first is that it rewrites the expectations of a traditional rom-com climax scene. Harper’s betrayal by publicly denying his relationship with Abby while Abby watches has a heavier and more complex emotional impact than one might expect from a movie like this. But it’s also hard not to empathize with Harper, who is suddenly forced to grapple with revealing her personal truth – something she deserved to share on her own terms, not to have shared it. for her in a room full of strangers. There is no easy answer as to whether Harper is guilt free in her impulsive reaction to denying that she is a lesbian who is also dating Abby; This, DuVall argues, is why she wanted this scene to play out the way it does.
DuVall, who co-wrote The happiest season with Mary holland (who also plays Jane, Harper’s wacky sister with a heart of gold), based some of the film’s events on her own past experiences as a once-closed lesbian. Given this level of personal involvement, it’s only natural that DuVall would be able to offer insight – as well as defense – into Harper’s behavior in the climactic scene where she denies her identity to her family and in front of Abby.
“We all have our baggage, we all have our main triggers and our fight or flight responses,” DuVall told Indiewire in a recent interview, “and I think Harper is someone who has been operating this way for a long time. It’s that devastating moment where your instincts kick in and you realize you haven’t come as far as you thought because you haven’t really confronted yourself. It’s a very humbling moment and something something that I think we can all relate to no matter what we get through. You don’t get over it the first time. ”
DuVall continued, touching the scene immediately following this tense family confrontation. As Abby goes to clear her head, she is joined by her best friend, John (And Levy). As the two friends walk, talk, and treat, John reminds Abby of her own exit story and her not-so-happy outcome which bears similarities to Harper’s. the The happiest season The director explained, “I wrote this coming out speech because I was thinking about how we can have compassion for Harper at this time. She is doing something very bad and I can see why an audience would be mad at her, but it’s also wanting to have compassion for the people who are going through it. Going out is so different for everyone. For some people, it’s super easy and I think it is. ‘s great for them, but for a lot of people it just really isn’t. ”
Have seen The happiest season twice since its Hulu release earlier this week, I can’t disagree with DuVall’s decision to write and shape this scene the way she did. I’m not a fan of seeing Harper deny his sexuality, partly because it seems somewhat grotesque at that point in the movie and partly because it pushes me further into the “Abby and Riley should end up together” camp. (They should, TBH.) But who am I to say that when I have no idea what it feels like to be exposed and forced to reckon with your sexuality on someone else’s timeline? It’s hard to know how you should feel about this scene from Harper and The happiest season does not offer easy answers on how we should treat it. What the film nails down – and this is supported by DuVall’s comments – is the honesty of how raw and fragile a moment like this is for everyone involved. No two stories are alike, and The happiest season take the opportunity to describe a version and make it a point of discussion. When was the last time a romantic comedy gave us the space to do this?
The happiest season is now available to stream on Hulu. To learn more, read our interview with The happiest season star Alison Brie in the latest episode of Collider Ladies Night.
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