After Happily Ever After

America ReFramed Season 1
  • Feature Film
  • 2013
  • 57 Mins

After Happily Ever After is filmmaker Kate Schermerhorn’s quirky, funny and moving personal quest for the secret to a happy marriage and for answers to some timely questions about an institution which might just be due for some review. It features an eclectic mix of long married couples - from a couple who dress alike every day; to a pair of nudists and a newlywed pair of mothers, to a feisty English widow. A lively and world-renowned group of marriage experts - including psychologist John Gottman (who can predict divorce with 90% accuracy), marriage historian Stephanie Coontz, and a Beverly Hills divorce attorney, ground the film in fact as they piece together the history and possible future and motivations for marriage. Along the way, Schermerhorn chronicles the joys and heartbreaks of her own marriage and finds that even the best advice can’t always guarantee a happily ever after.

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Film Credits

  • Kate Schermerhorn Director, Producer
  • Chris Holbrook Producer
  • Laurie Schmidt Editor, Co-Producer, Co-Writer

Critical Acclaim

This intelligent, sensitive, funny and tender film – most beautifully composed and shot – asks in a decidedly non-cynical way all the most pertinent questions about what Dr. Johnson once described as the 'triumph of hope over experience.'

Simon Winchester, New York Times Bestselling Author

After Happily Ever After is a fantastic look at marriage in the 21st century. It is both whimsical and deep. What more could someone want in a film?

Tiffany Shlain, Newsweek