Terminal Happyness (2020)

A short film about the cult of optimism.

Meet Miranda (Rachel Flynn), a bubbly and naive girl with leukemia. In this hyper-realistic world where positivity is pushed to the extreme, Cancer is an Opportunity! A challenge to change your life for the better! Everyone sees it that way...and if you don’t, you go to Happy Therapy to learn how. In Miranda’s case, it’s required for her to get treatment. The facility is headed by Taavi (Mart Sander), an overwhelmingly positive presence that guides the patients through his Positive Techniques.
One day, a fresh face appears in the Happy Therapy facility. It’s Fran (Roisin Brehony), her new roommate. She’s an older, more cynical woman who doesn’t mince her words. Outwardly, she has no choice but to play by the rules, but behind the nurses’ back, she does her own thing. Miranda becomes drawn to Fran’s explosive personality, and the two women bond. As Miranda loses her hair from chemotherapy, she tries to cling to her old ways under the encouragement of Taavi. But when Fran gets worse and eventually dies, Taavi blames her death on her negative outlook. In the surreal aftermath, Miranda realises the Happy Therapy is just a way of manipulation without regard for their real feelings, and decides to break free, announcing her real feelings on the facility’s PA system and urges people to remember Fran as who she really was.

Keywords: düstoopia | empaatia | grief | positive attitude | friendship | therapy | cancer | happiness | View all »