This is, supposedly, a sequel to Todd Solondz's, 
director/writer, movie "Happiness" released in 1998 only with different
actors playing the roles and not necessarily the ages they should be.
Sadly I don't recall whether I saw the previous picture and I have a
feeling by the end of the year I won't remember if I had seen this one.

The
movie revolves around 3 sisters, and the husband of one, who is serving
time in prison for pedophilia and is about to be released. His mother
has told her 12 year old son that his father was dead but he finds out
the truth at school when other students taunt him. Now he is battling
the 'like father, like son" wondering if he, too, will be a 'perv..'.

Though
it carries a fairly heavy theme it is hard to tell whether this is
suppose to be a farce, a satire, a comedy or a drama. One of the
sisters, Joy, is anything but that and the other two sisters aren't
going through life happily though one, played by Allison Janney,
has met and fallen in love with a new man. Joy, played by Shirley
Henderson, has visits from a dead former boyfriend Andy, played by Paul Reubens, while the third sister, played by Ally Sheedy, has cut all ties with the family.

There
is a long scene between an older, cold, maybe wealthy woman, a striking
performance by Charlotte Rampling, and Ciaran Hinds, the pedophile who
just got out of prison, where they meet in a hotel and have sex. It is
one of the many scenes where you don't know whether to laugh or cry.

While most of the cast gives good performances the other standout, beside Rampling,
is the one by Dylan Riley Snyder playing the 12 year old boy. The movie
winds up revolving around him and he is more than the equal of any
adult in the film.

Forgiveness, forgive and forget, are the underlying themes of  "Life During Wartime" but having sat through 100 minutes of this film I don't feel too forgiving.