‘Happening’ Review: A scary coming of age horror film
As political battle-lines are drawn and redrawn by politicians and vocal ideologues, the issue of abortion remains a major point of contention. In a sociopolitical climate where a woman’s autonomy over her own body is being snatched away by draconian measures, Audrey Diwan’s latest film Happening has managed to become a part of the conversation.
Starring Anamaria Vartolomei in a revelatory performance as Anne – a talented young girl who ends up getting pregnant, Happening is an adaptation of Annie Ernaux’s eponymous novel which was based on her own horrifying experiences. The resulting cinematic translation is a truly terrifying coming of age horror film, with loaded political subtext.
Set in the ’60s before abortion was legalised in France, Happening follows Anne as she is subjected to all kinds of traumatising events. Despite being a highly intelligent student, she is forced to worry about more pressing matters when she realises that she is stuck with an unwanted pregnancy and that nobody is going to help her.
The film is tightly structured to maintain the atmospheric anxiety and the visual narrative is synchronised with that artistic framework. Laurent Tangy’s cinematography is extremely effective, with the camera constantly tracking Anne and keeping her captive within the frame as a commentary on the absence of liberation from Anne’s existence.
A major part of Happening’s philosophical framework is built upon the investigations of post-war French philosophy, especially the works of Jean-Paul Sartre, Albert Camus and Simone de Beauvoir. Their existential questions might be universal but they are perfectly contextualised through Anne’s harrowing journey.
Deserted by friends, her sexual partner and deceived by doctors, Anne is repeatedly told that she has no choice. Unwilling to give up on her hopes and aspirations, she goes to great lengths to secure an illegal abortion which puts her own body at tremendous risk. The most tragic realisation is that so many women all over the world are still going through the same thing.
“The question of abortion has not been resolved. As we’ve seen over the summer, it’s an issue that continues to create turbulence all over the world,” Diwan said. “Cinema has by vocation, the ability to put us into different bodies and the lives of different people. I wanted to experiment with the idea of putting us into the body of this young woman, whatever our gender, to live this experience… I didn’t want to shock or present a theoretical emotion. I wanted us to feel.”
The audience definitely feels an entire range of emotions, especially because of the visual narrative’s insistence on making us understand the world by showing how if impacts Anne’s life. While other films like the brilliant 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days and the more recent Never Rarely Sometimes Always have explored the same subject in their own ways, Happening is undoubtedly a worthy addition.
