November 29, 2020

the happiest 🌟

Manila, 29 November—It feels almost obscene to headline something with ‘happy’ these days, but I hope you can indulge me. This year has been called a lot of things, but I think it also bears noting that it’s been a good year for queer content.

When we first heard about Clea DuVall’s “Happiest Season,” which was advertised as a lesbian holiday rom-com, of course we got excited. In the movie, Kristen Stewart and Mackenzie Davis play Abby and Harper, who are lovers headed home to Harper’s family for Christmas.

!! SPOILERS AFTER THE TRAILER !!

First things first—we enjoyed this movie. I don’t think we have a lesbian holiday movie just yet, and this is definitely a welcome addition to this year’s roster of queer favorites, which includes Alice Wu’s The Half of It, which premiered on Netflix in May, and The Haunting of Bly Manor, which premiered October, also on Netflix. Also worth noting is local GL series Pearl Next Door, which deserves its own entry altogether (for which I should probably do blow-by-blow recaps—love your own!)—currently ongoing, so you might want to catch up!

Anyway, in Happiest Season, Kristen Stewart plays Abby, who is head-over-heels in love with her girlfriend Harper (Davis, who I first met as Yorkie in San Junipero, and later, as Grace in Terminator: Dark Fate). Harper loves Christmas; Abby, not so much, for completely understandable, dead-parents-related reasons that we learn about much later.

In the middle of a memorable Christmas-y night (which involves Abby falling off a roof, nbd), Harper asks Abby to come home with her to her parents’ house for Christmas—not the original plan, as Abby was supposed to spend it alone in their apartment, albeit with pet-sitting duties, but Abby being smitten, she agrees.

They leave for Harper’s parents the following morning, and in the middle of the ride, Harper admits something: She lied about coming out to her parents the summer prior. This is the main conflict throughout the movie—for the duration of their stay, Abby and Harper must stay at Harper’s family house, pretending not to be lovers.

It’s not the easiest premise—I’ve seen a lot of reviews pointing to this conflict as the main reason why they were unable to enjoy the movie (more on this later). But the ensemble makes it all worth it: Mary Steenburgen and Victor Garber as Harper’s parents Tipper and Ted, Alison Brie and Mary Holland as Harper’s sisters Sloane and Jane, Dan Levy as Abby’s friend John, and this movie’s scene-stealer: Aubrey Plaza as Riley, Harper’s ex-girlfriend (more on her later.)

As it turns out, Harper’s father Ted is in the middle of his campaign as their town’s Mayor, hence reputation is key. Harper, a journalist, is the apple of her father’s eye—a position she is unwilling to give up, as she is in a competition with her elder sister Sloane, who is married with twin children (who are both terrifying).

To be honest, the whole hiding from parents thing kind of chafes—we spent majority of the film being anxious they would get caught, considering that Harper’s mother put them in separate rooms (“I wouldn’t let grown women share a bed!” OH GOD) and Abby’s room in the basement had no lock and all. (You guys! Have you ever tried holding off your parents at the door! Trying to buy time for the girl who’s naked in your bed to get fucking dressed! Which is a weirdly specific shared experience for many, amirite!)

But the ensemble saves it. Dan Levy as John, Abby’s pragmatic gay friend has the best one-liners, as well as the best “Listen this is important” monologue that had me a bit teary, while Mary Holland as Jane, Harper’s quirky artistic sister, really shines as the family’s sorta black sheep—an outsider in most senses of the word, but “the only one who could get the Internet working in this house”.

Which brings us to Aubrey Plaza’s character, Riley, whom Harper and Abby first run into at a restaurant, while trying to salvage a disastrous family dinner (to which Harper’s mom also invited Harper’s ‘canon ex’ a.k.a. ex-boyfriend Connor—the only ex acknowledged by Harper to her parents, because of course.)

The whole thing with Connor also chafes, by the way—it was so hard to root for Harper when she does so many problematic things. Connor asks her outright if their breakup had been about ‘something else’ and Harper lies to his face about being into girls, which broke my heart in Abby’s behalf.

After a terrible shoplifting misencounter at the mall, Abby gets shut out of a family dinner for the sake of reputation. While out on a walk, Abby runs into Riley, whom she asks about “where to get alcohol in this place,” which is a truly roundabout way of asking someone, specifically your closeted girlfriend’s ex-girlfriend, out for a drink.

Riley takes her to a gay bar—of course, she does. And I don’t know if it’s intentional, or if it’s just the chemistry between Aubrey Plaza and Kristen Stewart, but this scene Made Us Feel Something. (cue: the 1 by Taylor Swift, the long pond studio sessions version)

Abby and Riley find common ground over Harper, as expected, and we find out what actually went down between Riley and Harper: Once upon a time, they were a thing, until Harper had to defend her reputation by outing Riley and effectively ruining a significant part of her young adulthood.

I like Riley; it’s hard not to at least be sympathetic. She’s a successful doctor (which probably explains her singlehood), but for all she has achieved, some people would still zero in on her “lifestyle choice” like it’s a bad thing. And she’s made her peace with that.

I really like the dynamic she has with Abby; not sure if it’s the writers’ intention to put it on a borderline flirty area, or if they wanted it to be a bro thing (honestly, lesbians need lesbian friends who weren’t their exes, too?) or if that’s just how C and I are reading into it (lol) but goddamn that bar scene Was Something.

At that moment, a bit pissed already at how Harper was handling all of this badly (and she knew her girlfriend already has some serious Christmas-related trauma! How fucking inconsiderate to pile on! is what I’m saying) I was already kinda rooting for Abby and Riley to ~Work. I was only further incensed to find out that Abby left Riley to join Harper with her terrible girl friends who never even acknowledged her and Connor.

the audacity, ladies and gents. Me, seething in the middle of a lesbian holiday rom-com. Only lesbians, smh.

At some point, it becomes so unbearable for Abby that she practically ends it with Harper in the middle of Christmas and packs her things. To which Harper tries a last-minute intervention: “I’m not hiding you, I’m hiding me!”

Which tugs, admittedly. In my preoccupation with sympathizing with Abby and her hardship over this particularly torturous holiday, I’ve been completely blind re: Harper’s own struggle: Just because she’s the one at fault here mostly, doesn’t mean she isn’t suffering, too.

It doesn’t excuse any of it, but it does put things in context. John says it best: Harper not coming out to her parents has nothing to do with her love for you. Which is true. Everybody’s coming out story is different; it’s a timely reminder that just because my own parents cared little about me being in relationships with women doesn’t mean I get to dismiss other people’s hardships coming out to theirs.

Harper has this Big Speech where she admits, after brawling with Sloane and destroying Jane’s painting (-1,000pts Harper!!) in the middle of the living room in front of a roomful of her parents’ guests, that alas, she’s gay. Unfortunately, for Abby, it is too late. She drives off with John (who drove all the way from the city to take her out of the house), only to be pursued by Harper.

I’m unsatisfied as to how they chose to handle the ending, but it’s what giving it the Full Holiday treatment entails: There’s a Great Speech, A Great Apology, and A Kiss. Does it qualify as a Happy Ending? Of course. Abby gets included in the Christmas Day photo (which was a totally heartwarming gesture) taken by John, and the closing credits feature a year’s worth of Instagram updates from Tipper: Ted eventually wins the election despite turning down a big albeit conservative donor’s money in exchange for Harper staying in the closet (+1,000pts Ted!!), the family eventually joins the Pride Parade as allies, and eventually Harper and Abby get engaged around Christmas the following year.

Is it a satisfying ending? Well, maybe, though playful minds have been suggesting that Abby should have ended up with Riley instead, and maybe just run into Harper at the Pride Parade later for some closure. Lesbians like their complicated plots; I still get hate mail for some of mine (lmao).

That said, Happiest Season’s story is straightforward (pun unintended), and it employs tropes traditionally reserved for het couples on-screen (Harper’s scene at the end where she tries to stop Abby at the gas station felt a lot like a Paul Rudd scene, if you get what I mean) and I love it for that.

It has its problematic moments—why in the world would you have your girlfriend’s ex-girlfriend’s number?? for example—but it doesn’t stop the movie from being engaging and yes, enjoyable. We’d probably rewatch it, too. I disagree with the sentiment that we should stop making movies with coming out as a conflict—why the hell not? It’s unique for everyone, as mentioned—hence there are more stories to be told, I’m sure. (I’m still waiting for a Four Sisters and a Wedding-esque local wlw movie with lesbians meeting the parents for the first time—that would be a riot)

I do, however, think that yes, we are ready for more stories, other than coming out. Something to look forward to, definitely. And so we live in hope.

Related readings

• Short and sweet review from the New York Times: Make the Yuletide Gay

• This Autostraddle roundtable: Yikes, Harper! Wooowwww, Aubrey Plaza!

• This one via CBR: Riley has one of the most important arcs in the movie - I would argue that so much additional conflict was avoided precisely because Riley is mostly a put-together lesbian! Imagine the chaos she would have been very capable of inflicting!

And before I wrap this up, here have a super cut of Riley looking amazing:

Thank you for making it this far. Happy weekend!

XO,

K