If you aren’t concerned about the leaked draft ruling from the Supreme Court striking down Roe v. Wade, then please go see Audrey Diwan’s Happening. In what couldn’t be better (or worse) circumstances for its release, Diwan’s film gives us a glimpse of what life was like, and could be like again, if women do not have safe access to abortion.
Based on Annie Ernaux’s 2000 novel based on her own unwanted 1963 pregnancy, Happening tells the story of Anne (Anamaria Vartolomei), a young literature student who finds herself with child. Having a baby at such a young age will derail Anne’s plans and her career, but since abortion is illegal, she has nowhere to turn for help. Shot by Diwan in unflinching realism, the horror of Happening is specific to Anne, but also serves as a universal warning if abortion once again becomes illegal.
In many ways, Anne’s plight is like the protagonists in 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days (2007) and Never Rarely Sometimes Always (2020), films that deal with women trying to end unwanted pregnancies against great odds. Anne is fully aware of the risks, both to her health and legally, that come with seeking an abortion in 1963 France, but she is willing to risk it. She is highly intelligent and dreams of a career as an academic. A baby would destroy any future aspirations.
Despite close ties to two other women in her dormitory, Anne’s other classmates don’t like her. Perhaps they envy her intelligence, but the girls circulate rumors that Anne is easy. Not much has changed since the ‘60s and Diwan is clearly drawing parallels to contemporary attitudes where men can screw with abandon, yet promiscuous women are branded as sluts. At one point, Anne tells a man who is trying to pick her up at a party that everyone there is looking to hook up, but no one dares act on their urges. Society is just too damning.
Happening tells its story in chapters as Anne’s pregnancy progresses to the point of no return. Her desperation reaches a fevered pitch as the walls close in around her. She doesn’t confide in many people and those she does tell, shun her, afraid of the legal consequences of their complicity, or try to take advantage of her. Anne seeks out help from doctors and they refuse to assist her. One even gives her an injection that helps strengthen the embryo under false pretenses. There really is nowhere safe to go. Diwan and Vartolomei allow us to truly feel Anne’s helplessness.
Alone and terrified, Anne resorts to some truly horrific methods to end the pregnancy. Diwan films these scenes objectively, refusing to turn her camera away during the worst moments. She is daring us to confront this taboo, to understand why women reach such a level of desperation that they are willing to risk their own lives to end an unwanted pregnancy.
Diwan also makes an interesting choice to make Anne somewhat difficult to like. She is highly driven to succeed. She doesn’t want to end up like her mother, who runs a restaurant, or the other people in her small town who do manual labor. University is the only option to rise in her station and now an unwanted child is standing in the way of her ambitions. As she explains to one of the doctors, if she ended up sacrificing her future for the child, she would resent them for the rest of her life. She never once wavers in her resolve to end the pregnancy.
Happening joins the ranks of excellent films that tackle a difficult subject. But there is no question of which side of the debate it lands on. For something that might challenge your view, watch Tony Kaye’s groundbreaking documentary, Lake of Fire. Sadly, the people who will see Happening aren’t the ones who need their minds changed about a woman’s right to end an unwanted pregnancy. Still, it’s a sharp reminder of where we’ve been and where we could be headed very soon.
Photo courtesy of IFC Films
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