Summary:
Distressing and devastating chronicle about a brilliant student who decides to terminate her pregnancy in France in the early 1960s, when it was illegal. Winner of the Venice Golden Lion in 2021, it is based on the autobiographical novel by Annie Ernaux, the last winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature, and features a magnetic performance by Anamaria Vartolomei. Filmed with a certain timelessness that emphasizes its absolute validity in the face of an anti-rights right that never stops advancing.
Review:
Anne, a brilliant student who is taking the entry course for the Arts degree in Angoulême, undertakes the difficult path of accessing an abortion in France in the early 1960s.
Upon hearing the news of her pregnancy, young Anne's first reaction is surprise, followed by the immediate certainty that this is not the time, that this cannot stand in the way of her college career and she must act accordingly.
Based on the 2000 autobiographical novel by Annie Ernaux, the last winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature, the film deals with the ordeal of this young woman at a time when in France (and in the world) abortion was punishable by imprisonment (for those who practiced it and for the pregnant woman) and also constituted an unspeakable taboo, of strong social condemnation, added to the fact of being a single woman. The story paints with sobriety and mastery all that sociohistorical moment.
Anne undertakes the search with a determination as unshakable as it is lonely, in the face of all the obstacles and the lack of collaboration of the people with whom she decides to share her secret and in the face of time that advances inexorably week after week, with a pregnancy that takes on signs of incurable illness. It is devastating how the protagonist must move in a framework of secrecy that brings the story closer to the thriller at times.
Anne undertakes everything in her power to achieve her goal. The director (and co-writer) Audrey Diwan follows the arc of a protagonist who adds to the growing emotional tension her physical injury, with an explicit statement that she rightly chooses not to spare the viewer. The almost square screen frame emphasizes the overwhelm and anguish of the protagonist and the viewer, of a situation with no way out, of closing doors. Another success of the film is a deliberate timelessness, which emphasizes its absolute validity. And not to mention a title that alludes to something as important as it is unmentionable.
Anamaria Vartolomei immediately captures the viewer's empathy, capable of conveying all the conflicting feelings with her gaze and gestures: will, clarity of vision, pride, lack of prejudice, loneliness, anguish and despair, in a film that won the Golden Lion at the 2021 Venice Film Festival and is absolutely necessary in the face of the onslaught of anti-rights neo-fascism.
Distressing and devastating chronicle about a brilliant student who decides to terminate her pregnancy in France in the early 1960s, when it was illegal. Winner of the Venice Golden Lion in 2021, it is based on the autobiographical novel by Annie Ernaux, the last winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature, and features a magnetic performance by Anamaria Vartolomei. Filmed with a certain timelessness that emphasizes its absolute validity in the face of an anti-rights right that never stops advancing.
Review:
Anne, a brilliant student who is taking the entry course for the Arts degree in Angoulême, undertakes the difficult path of accessing an abortion in France in the early 1960s.
Upon hearing the news of her pregnancy, young Anne's first reaction is surprise, followed by the immediate certainty that this is not the time, that this cannot stand in the way of her college career and she must act accordingly.
Based on the 2000 autobiographical novel by Annie Ernaux, the last winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature, the film deals with the ordeal of this young woman at a time when in France (and in the world) abortion was punishable by imprisonment (for those who practiced it and for the pregnant woman) and also constituted an unspeakable taboo, of strong social condemnation, added to the fact of being a single woman. The story paints with sobriety and mastery all that sociohistorical moment.
Anne undertakes the search with a determination as unshakable as it is lonely, in the face of all the obstacles and the lack of collaboration of the people with whom she decides to share her secret and in the face of time that advances inexorably week after week, with a pregnancy that takes on signs of incurable illness. It is devastating how the protagonist must move in a framework of secrecy that brings the story closer to the thriller at times.
Anne undertakes everything in her power to achieve her goal. The director (and co-writer) Audrey Diwan follows the arc of a protagonist who adds to the growing emotional tension her physical injury, with an explicit statement that she rightly chooses not to spare the viewer. The almost square screen frame emphasizes the overwhelm and anguish of the protagonist and the viewer, of a situation with no way out, of closing doors. Another success of the film is a deliberate timelessness, which emphasizes its absolute validity. And not to mention a title that alludes to something as important as it is unmentionable.
Anamaria Vartolomei immediately captures the viewer's empathy, capable of conveying all the conflicting feelings with her gaze and gestures: will, clarity of vision, pride, lack of prejudice, loneliness, anguish and despair, in a film that won the Golden Lion at the 2021 Venice Film Festival and is absolutely necessary in the face of the onslaught of anti-rights neo-fascism.