Review of Happening / L'Événement, directed by Audrey Diwan

If you’re new here, and stumbled upon this blog through the mythical powers of the Internet, welcome! I know a lot of visitors to my website are people who randomly come upon this website through search engines like Google, but I also do have a lot of visitors who come back. Regardless: my name is Ashley, and I started this blog in order to keep track of everything I’m coming across in the world.

For three years I worked professionally as a film critic, and while going to all of the film festivals and interviewing directors and actors was cool for a while, but I wanted to reclaim my time and watch movies I wanted to watch. Sometimes watching all of the new releases is great, and behind ahead of the curve, but I feel like I was falling so behind on movies I was genuinely excited about.

I recently fell into a spell of unemployment probably during the worst time to be unemployed, as it was very hard to find a job. I was applying to hundreds of jobs, getting interviews, but no offer was manifesting for me in the near future. So during this time, I had a lot of free time, and spent a good chunk of it chipping away at the blog.

Because my budget was so limited during this time, as I had very few income sources, I was thinking a lot about what I spent my money on. I don’t like spending money on streaming services to begin with me when I have a very good library branch near me, as well as the fact I know what I like. Netflix is more useful for the blog when I want to make some more money in a month, as those kinds of posts get the most views, but I’m not chasing views.

I do like a Criterion subscription here and there, but I never like paying for it for an entire year. It’s a bit expensive, and so is MUBI, which is another platform I like. So while I was unemployed, I was watching for the deals, like three months of MUBI for $1 or Criterion for $6.99 a month. I did both when I had these deals, and loaded up on all of the movies I wanted to watch.

Today’s blog post is for a movie I watched on MUBI when I had the three months for $1 deal. I find MUBI pretty expensive normally, so I was loading up on all of the movies I wanted to watch, as well as some extras that I found along the way. Happening was one of those extras. I had not heard of the movie before I watched it, but the synopsis hooked me in immediately.

Let’s get into the review! I can see this introduction is getting a little long.

A young, intelligent college student in France tries to get an abortion before it’s legal in the country.

What I didn’t notice when starting this movie was that it was set in 1963, which was a welcome relief as you’ll see a campus setting where there are no phones, TikTok, or the Internet to be found. I had no idea the history of abortion in France, which was legalized in 1975, hence why I didn’t realize that at the beginning. I recommend reading up on the topic if you want a deeper understanding of the movie before going into it.

Anyways, our main character is Anne, and she’s a standout student at her local university. As I mentioned before, the year is 1963, so when she is perceived by her classmates and the people around her as being sexually active, they label her as a bit of a tramp. However, there are other people doing the same thing not getting the same treatment, making this a questionable label.

One day, during a break, Anne goes back home to the countryside to visit her family. She goes to her doctor, who asks her if she is a virgin. Anne insists that she is a virgin, but then the doctor reveals she is actually pregnant with a child. She doesn’t want the child and begs him to help her have an abortion, as this will mess up her future, but he refuses.

It is illegal to get an abortion in France during this time, hence why her doctor had this reaction. Anne goes back into the city and asks another doctor, and he gives her an inject that doesn’t work—it’s later revealed this is to help her actually stay pregnant, not have a miscarriage. Her next choice is to find a doctor who will do a surgery; she is unable to do so.

When she begs a classmate for help, he instead solicits her for sex, and Anne refuses and tries to do an abortion with a knitting needle by herself. She confides in her friends, who leave her behind to suffer with the knowledge everyone has abandoned her. Her boyfriend, who got her pregnant, also acts surprised she didn’t fix the situation and doesn’t help her out.

The classmate she went to before comes to Anne at night and tells her about someone he knows who had an abortion. The girl tells Anne about a doctor she went to, but there’s a catch: it will be very expensive and 400 francs. Now desperate, Anne sells off everything she owns to pay for the abortion, which takes place on a kitchen table.

The doctor tells Anne she will have to be silent, lest the neighbors hear her, and sticks the wand in her. She tells Anne she will miscarry within 24 hours. That doesn’t happen, and Anne has to get another wand stuck inside of her. The miscarriage that ensues is painful, and someone from the dorms finds her on the floor.

The girl from the dorm cuts the cord and calls an ambulance, and it is determined this is a miscarriage. Having got what she wanted, Anne returns to the university to take her exams after everything that happened.

Overall Thoughts

For a movie I had never heard about before watching, I had no expectations going into this (naturally), and I was blown away by how much I connected to this movie. I also had little to no idea about the struggles women went through for abortions in France, so to see Anne’s story come alive on the screen was not only a learning moment, but a piece of art for me.

The cinematography, blocking, and acting are all fantastic in this one. They give off indie cinema vibes, which I’m all for, but what drew me most into this one was how well written the story and characters were. It’s not often we get a really well written female-centered and female written movie getting such a push or marketing, and MUBI had this one top and center on my account.

Maybe they could access my cookies, but I always love supporting these kinds of movies, which is why I watched it in the first place. If you haven’t seen it, give it a chance if you can find the film online or on DVD. Movies are meant to be seen, not watched.

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