Le chêne et le roseau

In the late 1970s, a French teenage girl is obsessed with the then popular American movie heartthrob John Travolta.

Cédric Kahn's "Bonheur" is the eighth episode of the 9-part Arte series "Tous les garçons et les filles de leur âge", a series of medium-length (around 1h) made-for-tv movies about teenagers. An 85-minute version of "Bonheur" has been distributed as "Trop de bonheur" (a more satisfactory version, according to the director).

What is beautiful about adolescence is that it is a time when everything is still possible. The four main characters are each conditioned by their background and environment, but they refuse to accept any predestination and to fight it. Expelled from schools, spurned by lovers, confined by identity these youngsters just keep on running, frustrated and in flames. Lonely hearts, intoxicated by music and alcohol, by the heat of minds and bodies, burn to ashes.

An outer suburb of Paris, 1972. Gilles and Christine, both sixteen, are classmates and lovers who have become frustrated with the aloofness of their families and the general monotony of their lives. When the pair are caught shoplifting, Christine's father ships her off to a home for emotionally disturbed children, temporarily putting space between her and Gilles. Luckily for them, though, she escapes and the couple contemplate running away together.

In 1962, in the South-West of France, three boarding school boarders experience their first stirrings of love and clash on ideological grounds. Their meeting with Maîté, the daughter of a communist teacher, will prove decisive.

In the sixties, in a suburb near Paris, Martine wants to lose her virginity.

The main character, Michele, spends the hour discussing her views of life with some old and new friends, and tries to understand her own feelings about her place in the world and her sexuality, while a camera follows along at close range.

This French drama takes a gentle poke at the youthful ideologies of the post-hippy 70's. Fabio and Alain are teenagers with widely differing backgrounds and philosophies. Fabio is a rebellious Stalin quoting, left-winger from a lower middle-class family. He dreams of being a rock star even though he can't play a note. Alain, a soft-spoken boy from a middle-class family prefers to quote Plato. Alain is attracted to Fabio's enthusiastic talk on political activism. When the local press accuses them of terrorism after they toss a rock through a window they are initially delighted. Their delight is short-lived when they realize that may be blamed for some of the real terrorism the town has been experiencing.

A teen party gone out of control provides the focus of this drama which explores the transitions of youth in a transitional time set in the post-disco, pre-punk, early 1980's. Ariane, a teenager, is rebelling against her father and her boyfriend Pierre. She decides to hold a small party. The party is crashed by a large crowd of rude outsiders who proceed to destroy her home. Afterward, Ariane must face her obsessive neatness.

Young Zakari lives in a suburban housing project. He accidentally kills one of his friends and must flee, pursued by the "big brothers." His sister, Max-Laure, a drug addict, searches for drugs and then tries to find her brother. Meanwhile, Zakari's brother plays "red roulette ," a car race that involves running the most dangerous red lights.