El acontecimiento

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.

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.

Following the tale of a young student who becomes pregnant in the France of 1963, where abortion is a serious crime punishable by prison, this is a powerful and brilliantly executed film, gripping and often very hard to watch as it's unflinching in its depictions of the difficult and sometimes harrowing experiences the young woman is forced to go through. Told from the point of view of the main character in close up and close quarters, it's a vivid journey, superbly written and directed by Audrey Diwan and with a stunning central portrayal by Annamaria Vartolomai.

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.

This film is about the horrors of abortion or the lack of possibility to have one. "I want to have a child later, but I don't want a child instead of the life" the film heroine states at one of her doctors appointments. But being a young woman in the 60s meant exactly that- you could forget a free life and career if you became pregnant. The film told the story very close to the main character, tight cinematography. This is good for intimacy and really increases the horrors of her several attempts at aborting the fetus. At the same time I feel like the film misses a bit out on showing us the world around her, it's not a queens gambit like costume piece... if it weren't for the old cars it could have also been set in the 90s/2000s in terms of costumes and styling I feel. But that's also what gives the story a lot of actuality because it makes you think directly of the horrible situations woman go through today in countries where abortion is forbidden.

I left the film with a feeling of uneasiness and needed to take a hot shower at home.

Good acting in general, nudity without voyeurism which I greatly appreciated.