Posted on May 7, 2022
Timely and urgent, 'Happening' is a film that speaks to today's abortion debate
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https://www.npr.org/2022/05/06/ [login to see] /happening-film-review-abortion-debate
It would be hard to overstate the timeliness of the new abortion-themed drama Happening. Then again, this harrowing movie, directed with great tension and intimacy by the French filmmaker Audrey Diwan, would feel timely and urgent under any circumstances. Based on an autobiographical novel by Annie Ernaux, it unfolds over several weeks in the life of Anne, a 23-year-old literature student in the French town of Angoulême, who discovers she's pregnant after a brief fling.
It's 1963, and most working-class women in Anne's position would be forced to drop out of school, give up their careers and/or get married. But Anne doesn't want to do any of those things. She wants to continue her studies, and so she decides to seek out an abortion, even though the procedure is illegal.
It would be hard to overstate the timeliness of the new abortion-themed drama Happening. Then again, this harrowing movie, directed with great tension and intimacy by the French filmmaker Audrey Diwan, would feel timely and urgent under any circumstances. Based on an autobiographical novel by Annie Ernaux, it unfolds over several weeks in the life of Anne, a 23-year-old literature student in the French town of Angoulême, who discovers she's pregnant after a brief fling.
It's 1963, and most working-class women in Anne's position would be forced to drop out of school, give up their careers and/or get married. But Anne doesn't want to do any of those things. She wants to continue her studies, and so she decides to seek out an abortion, even though the procedure is illegal.
Timely and urgent, 'Happening' is a film that speaks to today's abortion debate
Posted from npr.org
Abortion
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France
Posted 2 y ago
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PO1 William "Chip" Nagel
..."Happening joins a strong field of abortion-themed movies including the 2007 drama 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days and the more recent Never Rarely Sometimes Always. In each of these movies we see a young woman struggling to deal with an impossible situation, whether in communist Romania or present-day Manhattan. Happening itself sometimes feels ambiguous in terms of its setting; you can tell the era from the actors' clothes and the pay phones, but Diwan doesn't overdo the '60s trappings. It's as if she's saying this re-creation of the past might very well be a window into the future."
..."Happening joins a strong field of abortion-themed movies including the 2007 drama 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days and the more recent Never Rarely Sometimes Always. In each of these movies we see a young woman struggling to deal with an impossible situation, whether in communist Romania or present-day Manhattan. Happening itself sometimes feels ambiguous in terms of its setting; you can tell the era from the actors' clothes and the pay phones, but Diwan doesn't overdo the '60s trappings. It's as if she's saying this re-creation of the past might very well be a window into the future."
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