Why are we so suspicious of happy endings? Is it simply

because we want to assert we are no longer children and

deserve an adult approach? Or is it for fear of moral convention

and lazy commonplace entertainment? The happy

ending in films is often disregarded by critics who see it

merely as an element much too marked by convention and

external influences to be worthy of interest. On the contrary,

this volume, which includes a series of twelve original

essays preceded by a methodological introduction, places

the question of the positive outcome under scrutiny and

reveals that it is a mistake to consider it as monolithic. The

essays in this collection, by noted film critics and promising

young researchers, provide insight into «rom-coms» as well

as auteur and heritage films and reflect the diversity of the

relationship between films and happy endings. Contributions

ranging from classical Hollywood cinema to contemporary

film thus point to the complexity of a too hastily dismissed

convention.