Both a sequel to as a variation on Solondz' own Happiness, the film is as stylised, hilarious and extremely sad as its predecessor. Three sisters wrestle with life and love, torn between forgetting and forgiving.
Todd Solondz's Life During Wartime is partly a sequel, partly a variation on his own Happiness (1998), and just like its predecessor a stylised, black, very sad and hilarious picture of the dysfunctional Jordan family - but this time with other actors. The story is set ten years later, but they still haven't come to terms with the previous catastrophic conflicts. In several entangled narrative lines, three sisters wrestle with life and love, pursued by their past and torn between forgetting and forgiving. Sister Joy leaves her husband and seeks solace from her mother and sisters - meanwhile pestered by a dead ex. Sister Trish has to tell her young son that his father is still alive and has served his term as a pederast. Sister Helen meanwhile wallows in the role of victim in the face of the rest of the family and her own Hollywood success. With beautiful camera work by Ed Lachman.