Happening (French: L'Événement) is a 2021 French drama film directed by Audrey Diwan. The film's adapted screenplay was written by Diwan and Marcia Romano from the 2000 memoir Happening by Annie Ernaux. Set in 1963, the film stars Anamaria Vartolomei as Anne, who experiences the emotionally and physically traumatic process of obtaining an abortion in France before it was legalized. The film also stars Luàna Bajrami, Pio Marmaï, Sandrine Bonnaire, Anna Mouglalis, Louise Chevillotte, Kacey Mottet Kelin, and Louise Orry-Diquéro in supporting roles with cinematography by Laurent Tangy.
In 1963 France, Anne is a promising university student in Angoulême. Despite having several close friends, she is often ridiculed by other students for supposedly being promiscuous, though it is stated multiple times that all of the students "want the same thing."
While visiting her family in the countryside, Anne goes to see her doctor. Despite her asserting that she is still a virgin, the doctor informs her she is pregnant. Anne begs him to terminate the pregnancy and he refuses, telling her that what she is asking is illegal. Anne visits another doctor in the city and also asks him for help with an abortion. He prescribes her an injection, promising it will induce a miscarriage. When it fails, Anne searches for a doctor to perform a surgical abortion. Later it is revealed that the injection was actually estradiol which, unbeknownst to Anne, helps maintain the pregnancy.
Anne approaches a classmate, Jean, for help, but he claims not to know anyone who can help her and instead propositions her for sex, noting there is no risk since she is already pregnant. Growing increasingly desperate, Anne attempts to perform an abortion on herself with a knitting needle on her bedroom floor, which fails. She informs her friends, who previously shared their desires for sexual intimacy, that she is pregnant and is trying to have an abortion, and they abandon her. As her grades begin to suffer and her chance at graduating with honours begins to slip away, Anne goes to see Maxime, her "boyfriend." Having previously been told by Anne that she intended to have an abortion, he is shocked to learn she is still pregnant, thinking she could handle the situation on her own, and they fight before she returns to school without his support.
Jean approaches Anne at night to introduce her to a female friend who has had an abortion, and the friend gives her the number of a back-alley abortionist, explaining that the abortion will be painful and cost 400 francs in advance. Anne sells all of her belongings to pay for the abortion, which takes place in a woman's apartment on her kitchen table. The woman instructs Anne that she will have to be silent so her neighbours do not hear, then inserts a probe and tells Anne that she will start to miscarry in 24 hours. Anne fails to miscarry and returns to the abortionist, who offers to insert a second probe, warning that this carries mortal risks. Anne decides to go through with the procedure nevertheless and returns to her dorm, where she has a complicated and painful miscarriage. Anne is found by a dormmate who helps to cut the umbilical cord and calls an ambulance. Her condition is officially recorded as a miscarriage.
The film ends with Anne returning to university to take her final exams.
On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, 99% of 172 critics' reviews are positive, with an average rating of 8.5/10. The website's consensus reads, "A tough but rewarding watch, Happening puts a personal face on an impossibly difficult choice and its heart-rending aftermath."[10]Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned the film a score of 86 out of 100 based on 36 critics' reviews, indicating "universal acclaim".[11]
Guy Lodge, writing for Variety, praised the film's acting, particularly that of Anamaria Vartolomei's in the lead role that was described as "career-elevating".[12]The Guardian's film festival critic Xan Brooks called the film "serious, gripping and finally honourable" and commended the cinematography of Laurent Tangy, saying that "the picture's tight framing is like a noose around her neck".[13]
In an interview with the Financial Times, Diwan stated her intention to not make Happening a period piece, knowing "what my character was going through is now a current situation in many countries."[14]Justin Chang, a film critic for the Los Angeles Times and NPR's Fresh Air, commended Diwan's choice to not make the film feel like a period piece, despite being a "re-creation of the past", as he thought the film "might very well be a window into the future."[15] Michael O'Sullivan, a reporter and film critic for The Washington Post, states that Happening serves as a "sobering reminder that the consequences of limiting access to safe medical care aren't just theoretical but existential."[16] At the time of the review in 2022, the U.S Supreme Court had recently made the decision to overturn Roe v. Wade, which had made access to abortion a constitutional right in the United States.[16]
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