Young woman tries to secure her future with an abortion
Audrey Diwan’s masterly second feature, “Happening,” is the story of a young woman trying to save her own life; a harrowing, tense and utterly riveting survival story. The question of whether or not our young hero, Anne (Anamaria Vartolomei), racing against the clock, will make it out with her future intact is the urgently dramatic question at hand.
“Happening” is the story of an abortion, one that the French writer Annie Ernaux underwent in her early 20s as a college student, in 1960s France, when abortion was illegal there. It was an experience that she documented in her 2000 memoir “L’événement,” which Diwan and Marcia Romano adapted for the screen. “Happening,” which won the Golden Lion at the 2021 Venice Film Festival, is a powerful argument for life: for Anne’s life, in fact, and her right to live hers how she chooses.
Anne is a brilliant literature student, with a couple of close friends (Louise Orry-Diquéro and Luàna Bajrami), academically minded girls who are just starting to explore flirtations and boys, or so it seems. When we see Anne check her underwear, and write “still nothing” in her calendar diary, we don’t need to see the inciting incident to know. When her family doctor gives her the news, her choice is immediate, firm and unwavering. She demands, “Do something!” Alas, he replies, “The law is unsparing.”
Anne’s obstacles are purely external — her decision is not the hard
part. Simply, effectively and with a skillful economy of storytelling, Diwan has already presented us with Anne’s alternatives to continuing her academic career, which an abortion would enable: marriage, or a return to her working class roots. Every action Anne takes is only a desperate attempt to secure the future for which she has worked so hard.
But a code of silence about the illegal procedure prevents her from accessing information. Talking to doctors is dangerous, confessing to her closest confidants results in scorn and harassment, the social shame of abortion wrapped up in the fraught sexual politics of the day, in which sexuality is rigidly policed among the young women. Her choice, which could result in death or injury, is the only viable option, but if she’s caught, she could face prison.
Diwan takes us on Anne’s journey with an unflinching first-person perspective of this experience. The camera moves fluidly, following Anne around, hovering over her shoulder, peering at other people, or down between her legs. Often, the camera
lingers on the reactions of her friends or the doctors she visits, but when the camera cuts back to her, it’s to take in Anne’s reaction to the cruelty and impossibility of the world around her.
Diwan regards it all with clarity, and even the most physically challenging moments are presented as matter-of-fact. But “Happening” isn’t a grim cinematic experience. Diwan dares to make this film beautiful, with an exceptionally striking naturalism and grace. The color, especially the blue clothing and architectural details that draw out Vartolomei’s arresting blue eyes, are richly photographed by cinematographer Laurent Tangy.
It is a cautionary tale, showing us this world without legal abortion, which is unnecessarily treacherous and unforgiving for women.
In French with English subtitles
MPAA rating: R (for disturbing material/images, sexual content and graphic nudity)
Running time: 1:39
How to watch: In theaters May 6