Happening

For me, L'Événement (Happening), Audrey Diwan's new film about a young woman in France in the early 1960s trying to get an abortion, feels a bit like a retread. I liked it a lot, honestly, and it's quite a thriller, actually – I was on the edge of my seat for much of it – but I guess I feel like I've seen it before. In 2020 there was Eliza Hittman's excellent US American film Never Rarely Sometimes Always, which was much more of a terrifyingly tragic drama than Happening. But this movie reminded me most of Cristian Mungiu's truly wonderful 4 Luni, 3 Săptămâni şi 2 Zile (4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days) from 2007, which works a lot like Happening.

In any case, Happening works very, very well, and it was a good watch even if it didn't feel completely original. It also feels very important in the U.S., where rampantly misogynist state governments – and a truly backward federal government – are once again attempting to force women to give birth by passing anti-abortion legislation.