Happy Ending
わたしたちのハッピー・エンディング
Storyline
The whole story, ending included.
A woman who has faked every orgasm for a year proposes a threesome to fix it; a comedy about saying so.
Luna and Mink have been together for a year, and by every outward sign they are happy. But Luna has never had an orgasm with him. She has been faking them from the start, and Mink has no idea. Her best friends know, and with their encouragement the idea of a threesome comes up between the couple; Mink agrees. They meet Eve, and the three of them sleep together. That night gives Luna what she has never had with Mink: with Eve, she climaxes.
Luna keeps going back to Eve, while Mink stays unaware of what she needs. When she finally tells him that she has never come with him, and that she did with Eve, they have a bitter row and he storms out. Luna calls Eve, and they spend the night together. In the morning Eve invites her to an exhibition, but Luna is anxious about Mink coming home, and Eve, hurt that Luna seems to want her only as a way to climax, tells her she would be better off buying a vibrator. Mink sees Eve leaving, reproaches Luna for sleeping with her instead of talking to him, and ends it.
Luna moves in with her friend Bo and sinks into a depression. Her friends drag her out running and dress up with her as Charlie's Angels. After a frank talk with them and with Mink's best friend, Samir, about their own troubles with sex, she resolves to try again. She turns up at the restaurant where Mink works, playfully re-enacts the day they met and asks to start over. He cannot answer, and she takes his silence as no. On her way to collect the last of her things she sees Eve in a café and leaves her be. After Luna cycles off, Mink finds her vibrator in the flat and rides after her. He finds her on a rooftop she has reached by climbing scaffolding and sits down beside her. He asks how she uses it, listens as she tells him how she comes, and begins to ask what he could do. It is the first honest conversation they have ever had about sex, and it leaves the door open.
Starring
Gaite Jansenas Luna
A young woman a year into a happy relationship, who has faked every orgasm with her boyfriend and cannot bring herself to tell him.
Luna’s story
Luna proposes a threesome, hoping it will fix what she has hidden from Mink for a year. It brings them Eve, and with Eve, Luna climaxes. She keeps going back to her. When she finally tells Mink, and says he should have worked it out himself, he walks out. She calls Eve, who leaves in the morning, hurt that Luna seems to want her only as a way to climax; Mink sees her go and ends it. Luna sinks, moves in with her friend Bo, and after frank talks with her friends resolves to try again. At his restaurant she re-enacts the day they met and takes his silence as no. After she collects her things, he follows her to a rooftop with the vibrator she left behind and asks how she comes; for the first time, they talk.
Martijn Lakemeieras Mink
Luna's loving boyfriend, who has no idea she has never climaxed with him.
Mink’s story
Mink goes along with the threesome Luna wants, enjoys it, and afterwards even invites Eve to their parties. When Luna tells him she has never climaxed with him, and that she did with Eve, they have a bitter row and he storms out to his best friend, Samir. Coming home, he sees Eve leaving the building, asks in tears why Luna slept with her instead of talking to him, and ends the relationship. When she comes to his restaurant, re-enacts the day they met and asks to start again, he cannot answer. Then he finds the vibrator she left behind, cycles after her, climbs to the rooftop where she sits and asks how she uses it. He listens as she tells him how she comes, and begins to ask what he could do.
Joy Delimaas Eve
The woman the couple invite into a threesome, with whom Luna finds the pleasure she has been missing.
Why it matters
Happy Ending is a romantic comedy about something couples find hard to say aloud: that she is not enjoying the sex, and has been pretending. Luna fakes her orgasms out of kindness and embarrassment rather than contempt, and the film is honest that the lie protects both of them until it protects neither. The threesome meant to fix things only proves that pleasure is possible for her with someone else, which is harder news to deliver than the original silence. Joosje Duk, who wrote and directed it, keeps the tone light and the characters decent; no one is a villain, which makes the damage feel more real. The film ends not on a verdict but on a conversation, the first frank one Luna and Mink have had about her body, and it leaves open whether a relationship can survive the truth, or can only begin with it.