Apichatpong Weerasethakul in Person

(Sud senaeha). As in Manet's deliciously "indecent" painting Déjeuner sur l'herbe, something bawdy but baleful lurks inside the bliss of Blissfully Yours. A respite from everyday anguish lures two happy couples into a lush jungle with its meandering river and cushioning banks. This green profusion exists along the northwest Thai border, where refugees from Burma flee political repression. In Apichatpong’s steamy film, political injustice is subtly ever-present like the hum of insect life in the forest. But this day-in-the-country is about something else entirely-—the dilemma of knowing when you’re truly happy. The young Roong and her Burmese lover Min enter the jungle alone, only to encounter Orn, an older friend, and Tommy, her illicit beau. The day is spent languishing in the heat, indulging in ribald excess, and keeping the woes of the world at bay. Apichatpong’s beautifully rendered meditation conjures a fictitious contentment, a blissful state, where the other, the repressive State is forgotten in this happy hour.

Winner, Un Certain Regard Award, Cannes 2002.

—Steve Seid

• Written by Weerasethakul. Photographed by Sayombhu Mukdeeprom. With Kanokporn Tongaram, Min Oo, Jenjira Jansuda, Sa-gnad Chaiyapan. (123 mins, In Thai with English subtitles, Color, 35mm, From Kick the Machine)