Netflix in association with DTIC present Renate Stuurman (Princess), Khanyi Mbau (Zaza), Nambatha Be-Mazwi (Zimkhitha), Richard Lukunku (Leo), Daniel Etim Effiong (Maxwell), Yonda Thomas (Yonda) Loyiso McDonald (Thato), Xolile Tshabalala (Fakazile), (Onalerona Mabusla). Director Of Photography, Lance Gewer, Producer, Bongiwe Selane, Director, Thabang Moleya, Executive Producers, Ben Amadasun, Mayenzeke Baza, Pascal, Schmitz. © 2021
There is a scene in this movie that reminds me of Tennessee Williams’s Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (1958). This does not resemble the ongoing review of Happiness Ever After. Still, it does have an instant that symbolizes Maggie’s (Elizabeth Taylor) nervous and jumpy state of mind in her marriage to Bricks (Paul Newman). Compare that to the struggle between Zaza and her sister-in-law, Fakazile (Xolile Tshabalala) over the property left by her wealthy husband, and when her sister-in-law catches her with her lawyer, her attorney in the settlement case, kissing. It is a beautiful story based on loss, family grudges, and new love as Netflix tells us and I believe so.
Happiness Ever After centers around three city women, all liberated; all with hourglass shapes as if cherry-picked from the Garden of Eden. But ones our mothers may have warned us to stay away from if we are not financially capable: There’s Zaza (Khanyi Mbau) with her two boys left her by her wealthy husband. Zaza’s sister-in-law, Fakazile, a woman with a steely face and military gait, wants to claim the properties and throw her onto the street. There is a legal ownership battle between the two women. And there is Princess (Renate Stuurman) a gallery owner in a relationship with Maxwell, I presume a lecturer.
But Princess has a four-year-old girl she had had from a looser-like Leo (Richard Lukunku), a promising, but miles away from achieving his dream as a portrait artist, who has always been absent from the life of Princess’s daughter. Added to this duo of women is a younger girlfriend, Zimkhitha (Nambatha Be-Mazwi), who conducts yoga classes for Princess and Zaza. The trio form a friendship that takes them to the end of the story, the end of time.
According to the title of this movie, the three women are on a mission for happiness ever after. It starts with the Princess upon seeing Coco’s father at her gallery when he wasn’t invited. When by chance Princess must meet with Leo in a secluded place, away from prying eyes, she tells him to leave. Princess, a pristine lady couldn’t be seen with a bum, she internalized. One can see that Princess has an enormous leftover love for Leo. Look at Leo, the rugged type but smooth, a punk by every standard: Mohawk hairstyle, nose and earrings, baggy pants, and a black leather jacket much like a Bohemian. This gives me the feeling and understanding of the former life or the teenage life of Princess. She seemingly adores this junky fellow. One of those girls you smoked a joint or two with, growing up, in the neighborhood alleys and slept out in some old men’s barnyard in the open on summer nights. You can’t easily forget those times, and dates especially when a child comes of the circumstance, as beautiful as four-year-old Coco (Onalerona Mabusela).
At her exhibition, her Yoga trainer Zimkhitha locks eyes with a struggling, younger dating app creator Yonda (Yonda Thomas), and they quickly clique and go out to dinner, because their stomachs are “grumbling.” Both, however, have had their separate romantic misfortunes. Zim (for short) had financially sponsored a lover’s investment in cryptocurrency, who absconded from her and later saw him off Facebook getting married. Talk about disappointment! Yonda has a similar experience with a girl and has cold feet to commit to Zim. These experiences are like warnings before wounded; they are hesitant about commitment.
Meanwhile, Zaza and her sister-in-law, Fakazile (Xolile Tshabalala) are still in the trenches, fighting and dirtying themselves over Bekky’s properties. The confrontation only simmers when Bekky’s mother drills some sense in them that they must stop the bickering, disrespecting, and desecrating the name of her dead son. And like two rude girls in a class, suspended for fighting over a boyfriend who no longer exists, they demurely suspend their quibble. Bekky’s mother couldn’t stand it and had to leave for her house. The bone of contention between the two is, that Zaza’s sister-in-law feels left out. Zaza says her sister-in-law has nothing to do with her husband’s legacy. The fighting continues.
Of the three plot strands, Princess, Zim, and Zaza, I will nominate Princess, as the main plotline. Her relationship with the bohemian, Leo, is interesting. But how? Zaza, through the help of her lawyer cum lover, can retain ownership of the properties and Fakazile is willing to work with her, finally. While Zim and Yonda had been struggling in their relationship, she invited him to her achievement award, he presented Zim with an engagement ring during the occasion. And the two subplot lines were resolved.
The moment of truth in Happily Ever After is the encounter with Leo. Leo has never changed but Princess loves him besides. And notwithstanding, Maxwell engaged her with a sparkling diamond ring. Her greatest fear, I noted, though not precisely so, is for Coco to grow up in a household without a dad. Maxwell fights to step into the vacuum created by Leo’s absence. And then Leo starts showing up at her place, uninvited at most times and most times out of place; presenting the four-year-old with a portrait, she wouldn’t appreciate, at her age, yet in lieu of setting eyes on Princess.
Upon Princess visiting Leo, he confessed he had been a deadbeat dad, all right, never been there to change Coco’s nappies, never when her first tooth came, and never there for anything. Yet, when Leo explains his reasons, one can figure out his reasons why: He had been strung on drugs and alcohol. He has lived a useless life; been fighting these demons and doesn’t want to face his daughter in such deplorable and despicable conditions. After this confession, the old love flame flares once again. Princess shivers when Leo touches her shoulders. Those touches that make you feel weak at the knees. And she turns to Leo, “But you hurt me, Leo,” Princess says, helplessly. Defeatedly. You can feel in her belaboring voice, the disappointment she felt in the empty promises Leo made to her. Yet, Princess, now seeing her daughter’s father in tears, her heart melts for this man she has come to know since youth, in disregard of the advice her friends Zaza and Zim had given her. She refuses Maxwell’s hand and lets go for Leo. I believe her heart gave, and for old-time sake, they had sex that evening.
Many factors make us look forward to episodes of Happily Ever After because the ends of all plotlines are cliffhangers. You ask yourself if, for instance, the relationship between Zaza and her sister-in-law will hold. Will the relationship between Zim and Yonda under the pressure of Yonda’s project being denied the greenlight? Or Zim noted with the fellow in which she invested her hard-earned money into cryptocurrency. By three-fourths of the movie, Leo has already broken another promise by abandoning Coco at school. And Princess says, “Leo you will never change.” Maybe some of us might follow and see if he does.