L'Événement

Saw this back at the 2022 Sundance Film Festival

Based on a novel by Annie Ernaux,, the topic of abortion is already becoming a very controversial subject in the past many years. There are many debates about whether abortion is right or wrong. Audrey Diwan takes this serious subject matter and creates a uneasy, intense, but realistic approach about this topic through the lens of an interesting character portrayed by Anamaria Vartolomei who gives an amazing stellar performance throughout this movie. This movie isn't an easy watch because of the brutal nature of what the character is going through and especially a really disturbing third act that made me feel uneasy and quite uncomfortable while watching it. Throughout there are some beautiful camerawork with the 1:33:1 aspect ratio perfectly capturing the 1970s in France, some beautiful production and costume designs, and really good soundtrack. Although, the setting at times didn't feel like the 70s because the movie didn't explore it's time period well enough as it should have which was one of the flaws I had with this movie.

As I have to say it again, Anamaria Vartolomei sells throughout this movie with her realistic performance on portraying a character who is lost, somewhat arrogant but also finding a way to solve her issue. Even if it risks her own sanity. Character study films are really interesting as it provides an guide to understand how the human life works throughout many lens. It's often not easy to be really engage with a character but if the writing is great, the character is great. Some problems I have with the movie are that some of the dialogue felt a little clunky as it didn't feel like it fits in the 1970s time period and some of the supporting characters felt like they had nothing to do with the movie. Almost as if they could have just been removed from the final cut honestly.

Overall, this was a really good adaptation from director Audrey Diwan and I really look forward to seeing more films from here. I believe there's a great potential of French female filmmakers coming soon in the near decade.

Rating: B+

Like it's lead character, Anne (Anamaria Vartolomei), Director Audrey Diwan's HAPPENING is direct, strong and decisive. Anne is a very promising literature student who finds herself pregnant after a fling with a visiting student. The place is France in the early 60s when having a procedure to abort a baby is strictly illegal. Her closest friends and doctor want nothing to do with her plans - especially, her doctor, who's very counsel could land him in jail.

Diwan's adaptation of Annie Ernaux's novel feels immediate, adopting an almost you are there approach (the script was co-written by Diwan and a trio of other writers). While it's certainly not a documentary construct, it's very much a drama, but it feels real. Laurent Tangy's hand-held camera is like an intimate partner to Diwan's vision. The active tense title is very much on point here (the French title also translates into "The Event").

Vartolomei is quite excellent. She is often the only character on screen and her performance never seems studied, simply inhabited. The others in the cast are always believable even if they don't have time to really develop. Anna Mouglalis is particularly memorable as the blunt Mme. Riviere, and legendary European actress Sandrinne Bonnaire is on hand as Anne's mother.

HAPPENING gets quite explicit at times, but never feels in the least exploitative. The screenplay is also admirable in that it never preaches. Diwan follows her character on her own terms all the way through. It's a difficult movie, but a very worthy one.

As "Happening" (2021 release from France; 100 min.) opens, it's some time in the early 1960s in France, and we are introduced to several young women, students at the local university, who are getting ready to go out on the town. One of them is Annie (or Anne). Then later, Annie goes to see a doctor as her period is late. The doctor informs her that she is pregnant, to Annie's shock. She asks the doctor "to do something" but he flat-out refuses, as abortion is illegal and carries a penalty in jail... At this point we are 10 minutes into the movie.

Couple of comments: this is the latest from French-Lebanese writer-director Audrey Diwan ("Losing It"). Here she brings the real life tale of what happens to a young woman in her early 20s who gets pregnant in a time and space where abortion is entirely illegal without any exceptions (France in the early 60s). Watch how Annie gets no support, zero, from anyone around her including doctors, family and friends, and even her lover. Watch how increasingly desperate Annie becomes as the weeks pass. Please note that some scenes are very difficult to watch. The US premiere of this film came at the 2022 Sundance film festival, just over a year ago, and mere months before the US Supreme Court overruled Re v. Wade, with the GOP subsequently enacting strict anti-abortion laws in multiple states. For shame. Do you want to go back more than half a century to the times when men in power decided that "this isn't a woman's issue"? Welcome to the GOP of 2022! As a complete aside, this film is based on the book of the same name by acclaimed French author Annie Ernaux (born Duchesne), who just last year won the Nobel Prize in Literature.

"Happening" is currently rated 99% Certified Fresh on Rotten Tomatoes, and for good reason. It is a gut-wrenching abortion drama, now more relevant issue than ever. I had been clamoring to see this film, and finally it started streaming on Hulu just yesterday. I watched it right away. If you are in the mood for a top-notch if devastating abortion drama, I'd readily suggest you check this out, and draw your own conclusion.

With over one thousand reviews on IMDB, this may be the most difficult one I will ever write. The timing is impeccable, as here in America, the landmark Roe vs Wade decision has turned the nation into a state by state battleground regarding the freedom to choose whether or not to have an abortion. As a pro choice Catholic, I am in disagreement with the views of my church. The film portrays a young woman in a France of the 1960s, when abortion was illegal. Some of the scenes are quite graphic and disturbing. The lead actress is outstanding and the story compelling. I am sure that Happening will receive an Oscar nomination for Best Foreign movie.

'Happening (2021)' may be set in 1963 in France, but it might as well be set in 2022 in America. With the recent passing of certain draconian laws, this period piece is more relevant than many of its modern-day counterparts. In fact, its period setting actually further compounds its poignance. Anyone tempted to view the backwards beliefs and legislations that plague not only its central character but, indirectly or otherwise, every other female character in the entire affair as a product of their time is either wilfully ignorant or set to have a very rude awakening when they turn on the news. Film has always been a great tool for empathy, offering a glimpse into the life of someone other than yourself. In many cases, it allows people to connect with the lived experiences of groups of people they're unlikely to ever even meet, let alone directly identify with. Watching someone, fictional or otherwise, undergo a struggle completely alien to yourself is something that, if approached with the right mindset, can widen your worldview and allow you to more easily understand those with vastly different lived experiences to that of your own. This movie does just that. It places you in the shoes of a quietly determined young student who becomes pregnant and does everything she can to obtain an abortion. For whatever reason, a woman's right to choose what happens with her own body is still a touchy subject. Here, though, it's rendered with such aplomb that it's almost hard to imagine even the most devout republican having an issue with the central character's decision. Actually, that's probably giving devout republicans too much credit. Regardless, the point still stands that the picture does an excellent job of putting you in the inconvenienced and isolated shoes of its protagonist. It does an excellent job at conveying the deep-rooted sense of betrayal that comes with everyone around you denying your right to choose what happens to you. Doctors become enemies, families become distant, friends become nothing more than faces in the crowd, and the future suddenly doesn't seem quite as bright as it used to. Despite this growing loneliness and desperation, the lead never loses her focus. She never questions her decision or, more importantly, that it's a decision she and she alone can make. Crucially, her pregnancy isn't the result of incest or a rape and there's no indication that her baby will be unhealthy or that their birth would present a danger to her own life. Instead, her pregnancy is the only thing it should need to be in order for an abortion to be administered: unwanted. By doing this, it argues for universal bodily autonomy and presents the case that abortion is a right regardless of circumstance. The protagonist even says she'd like to have a child in the future, just that she doesn't want one instead of a life. The feature is also very careful not to shame her for having sex in the first place, even though certain unsympathetic characters certainly do just that. In doing so, it avoids perpetuating the misconception that pregnancy is perhaps some sort of punishment for premarital sex. In general, the film is fantastically feminist. It's also quietly confident in its construction, taking an almost minimalist approach to its material and putting a lot of focus on its superb central performance. It doesn't shy away from the more graphic elements of its narrative, featuring a couple of protracted attempted abortions that purposefully make you squirm. It isn't overly explicit and knows exactly when to stop so that it doesn't cheapen itself by trudging into gross-out territory. By going as far as it needs to (which is further than many of its contemporaries dare to go), it presents the truth of its situation. It doesn't pretend abortion is a painless procedure, which further hammers home the fact that it should be legal - and, dare I say, free - so that it can be performed in genuine hospitals by genuine doctors with genuine tools like any other genuine medical procedure. Making abortion illegal doesn't stop abortion from happening, it stops abortion from happening safely. The flick makes you care about its central character, so you're on the edge of your seat when she undergoes some of the dangerous procedures she's forced to undergo by the laws that govern her country. While you never want her to go through that kind of pain, you also never doubt the fact that she needs to. Furthermore, you never blame her for going through these life-threatening procedures. After all, what other choice does she have? Though the film itself is a little slow on occasion and it isn't conventionally enjoyable, it's an engaging and affecting experience throughout. It has something important to say and it knows exactly how to say it. It isn't necessarily an easy watch, but it's easily a necessary one.