''Happening'' (french: L'Événement) is a 2021 French

drama thriller In film and television, drama is a category or genre of narrative fiction (or semi-fiction) intended to be more serious than humorous in tone. Drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional terms that specify its particular super-g ...

film directed by

Audrey Diwan Audrey Diwan (born 1980) is a French film director of Lebanese origin. Prior to becoming a film director she worked as a journalist and a screenwriter. She is a member of Collectif 50/50, a French NGO promoting equality between men and women i ...

from a screenplay by Diwan and Marcia Romano, based on the 2000 novel of the same name by

Annie Ernaux Annie Thérèse Blanche Ernaux (; born 1 September 1940) is a French writer, professor of literature and Nobel laureate. Her literary work, mostly autobiographical, maintains close links with sociology. Ernaux was awarded the 2022 Nobel Prize ...

. The film stars

Anamaria Vartolomei Anamaria Vartolomei (born 9 April 1999) is a French-Romanian actress. She began her career as a child actress in the film ''My Little Princess'' (2011). She won the Lumières Award for Best Actress and the César Award for Most Promising Actress ...

and

Luàna Bajrami Luàna Bajrami-Rahmani (; born 14 March 2001) is a French-Kosovar actress. She is known for her roles in the films '' Portrait of a Lady on Fire'' (2019) and '' School's Out'' (2018). She made her directorial debut with ''The Hill Where Lionesse ...

and is set to be distributed by

Wild Bunch The Wild Bunch, also known as the Doolin–Dalton Gang, or the Oklahombres, were a gang of American outlaws based in the Indian Territory in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. They were active in Kansas, Missouri, Arkansas, and Oklahoma Terr ...

. Set in 1963 France, Anne, a young and talented student, gets pregnant, seeing her opportunities to finish her studies and excel slipping away from her. As her final exams approach and her social life begins to fade, Anne's pregnancy progresses, forcing her to confront the shame and pain of an abortion, even if she must risk prison to do so. It was selected to world premiere in competition at the

78th Venice International Film Festival The 78th annual Venice International Film Festival was held from 1 to 11 September 2021. South Korean director Bong Joon-ho was appointed as the President of the Jury, marking the first time a South Korean director has been picked as the festiv ...

on 6 September 2021, where the film won the

Golden Lion The Golden Lion ( it, Leone d'oro) is the highest prize given to a film at the Venice Film Festival. The prize was introduced in 1949 by the organizing committee and is now regarded as one of the film industry's most prestigious and distinguishe ...

and received universal acclaim from critics.

Plot

In 1963 France, Anne is a promising university student at

Angoulême Angoulême (; Poitevin-Saintongeais: ''Engoulaeme''; oc, Engoleime) is a communes of France, commune, the Prefectures of France, prefecture of the Charente Departments of France, department, in the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region of southwestern Franc ...

. Despite having several close friends she is often ridiculed by other students for supposedly being promiscuous. While visiting her family in the country Anne goes to see her doctor. Despite insisting she is still a virgin the doctor informs her she is pregnant. Anne begs him to do something about the pregnancy and he refuses, insisting what she is asking is illegal. Anne goes to see a random doctor in the city and also asks him for help with an abortion. He prescribes her a shot promising her it will induce a miscarriage. When it fails Anne begins to search for a doctor to perform the procedure. Anne approaches a fellow classmate, Jean, for help, informing she is pregnant. When he insists he doesn't know anyone who can help her he propositions her for sex, insisting there is no risk since she is already pregnant. Growing increasingly desperate Anne attempts to perform an abortion on herself with a knitting needle, which fails. She informs her friends she is pregnant and 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 told by Anne she intended to have an abortion he is shocked to learn she is still pregnant. They fight and she returns to school. Jean approaches Anne at night to introduce her to a female friend who has had an abortion. The friend gives her the number of a doctor explaining that the abortion will be painful and cost 400 francs upfront. Anne sells all her things to be able to afford the abortion. The abortion takes place in a woman's apartment on her kitchen table. She inserts a wand and tells Anne that she will start to miscarry in 24 hours. Anne fails to miscarry and returns to the abortionist who inserts a second wand inside Anne telling her it is possible there will be complications. Anne decides to go through with the procedure. Anne returns to her dorm where she has a complicated and painful miscarriage. Anne is found by a dorm mate who calls an ambulance taking her to the hospital. Her case is labelled a miscarriage. Returning to school she takes her final exams.

Cast

as Anne *

Kacey Mottet Klein Kacey Mottet Klein (born 20 October 1998) is a Swiss actor. Life and career Kacey Mottet Klein was born in Lausanne to an American father and a Swiss mother. He made his screen debut in 2008, in Ursula Meier's ''Home'', for which he won the Swi ...

as Jean *

Sandrine Bonnaire Sandrine Bonnaire (; born 31 May 1967) is a French actress, film director and screenwriter who has appeared in more than 40 films. She won the César Award for Most Promising Actress for '' À Nos Amours'' (1983), the César Award for Best Actre ...

as Gabrielle Duchesne * Louise Orry-Diquero as Brigitte * Louise Chevillotte as Olivia *

Pio Marmaï Pio Marmaï (born 13 July 1984) is a French actor. He has appeared in more than twenty films since 2008. Early life and education Marmaï was born on 13 July 1984. His mother is a former costume designer at the Opéra de Strasbourg, and his f ...

as Professeur Bornec *

Anna Mouglalis Anna Mouglalis ( el, Άννα Μουγλάλη; born 26 April 1978) is a French actress and model. She is known for being a house ambassador for Chanel since 2002, and for portraying the fashion designer Coco Chanel in the 2009 film '' Coco Chan ...

as Mme Rivière *

Fabrizio Rongione Fabrizio Rongione (born 3 March 1973) is a Belgian screenwriter, film producer and actor. Career Rongione was born in Brussels, Belgium of Italian descent. He collaborated with Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne in ''Rosetta'' (1999), '' L’Enfant'' ...

as Dr. Ravinsky *

as Hélène * Leonor Oberson as Claire * Julien Frison as Maxime * Alice de Lencquesaing as Laëtitia

Production

During an interview on 23 April 2019 about her

directorial debut This is a list of film directorial debuts in chronological order. The films and dates referred to are a director's first commercial cinematic release. Many film makers have directed works which were not commercially released, for example early work ...

film ''Losing It'', screenwriter

revealed she was adapting

's 2000 autobiographical novel ''L'événement'' (translated as ''Happening''), stating that the book was "very important" to her. On 29 May 2020, the

Centre national du cinéma et de l'image animée Center or centre may refer to: Mathematics *Center (geometry), the middle of an object * Center (algebra), used in various contexts ** Center (group theory) ** Center (ring theory) * Graph center, the set of all vertices of minimum eccentricity ...

, an agency of the

French Ministry of Culture The Ministry of Culture (french: Ministère de la Culture) is the ministry of the Government of France in charge of national museums and the . Its goal is to maintain the French identity through the promotion and protection of the arts (visual, ...

, announced they would support the film, moving the project into pre-production.

Principal photography Principal photography is the phase of producing a film or television show in which the bulk of shooting takes place, as distinct from the phases of pre-production and post-production. Personnel Besides the main film personnel, such as actor ...

for the film commenced on 27 July 2020 and took place throughout the summer. The film entered

post-production Post-production is part of the process of filmmaking, video production, audio production, and photography. Post-production includes all stages of production occurring after principal photography or recording individual program segments. The ...

in January 2021.

Release

The film had its world premiere in competition at the

on 6 September 2021. Prior to,

acquired distribution rights to the film for France in July 2021. ''Happening'' screened in the Spotlight section of the

2022 Sundance Film Festival The 2022 Sundance Film Festival took place from January 20 to 30, 2022. Due to COVID-19 pandemic protocol it was to have been a hybrid festival, but on January 5, 2022 it was announced that the in-person components would be scrapped in favor o ...

Reception

Critical response

On the review aggregator website

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...

, 99% of 161 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."

Metacritic Metacritic is a website that review aggregator, aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted arithmetic mean, weighted average). M ...

, which uses a

weighted average The weighted arithmetic mean is similar to an ordinary arithmetic mean (the most common type of average), except that instead of each of the data points contributing equally to the final average, some data points contribute more than others. The ...

, assigned the film a score of 86 out of 100 based on 36 critics' reviews, indicating "universal acclaim." Guy Lodge, writing for ''

Variety Variety may refer to: Arts and entertainment Entertainment formats * Variety (radio) * Variety show, in theater and television Films * ''Variety'' (1925 film), a German silent film directed by Ewald Andre Dupont * ''Variety'' (1935 film), ...

'', praised the film's acting, particularly that of

's in the lead role that was described as "career-elevating". ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...

''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".

Accolades

References

External links

* * * {{Navboxes , title = Awards for ''Happening'' , list = {{Gotham Independent Film Award for Best International Feature {{Lumières Award for Best Film {{The Golden Lion 2021 drama films Films about abortion Films about education Films about sexism Films about sexuality Films about sexual repression Films about society Films about students Films based on autobiographies Films based on French novels Films based on works by Annie Ernaux Films set in 1963 Films set in France Films set in universities and colleges French drama films French films based on actual events Golden Lion winners Wild Bunch (company) films 2020s feminist films 2020s French films