Happening

An adaptation of Annie Ernaux’s eponymous novel, looking back on her experience with abortion when it was still illegal in France in the 1960s.

In 1963 France, a bright young student gets pregnant and sees her opportunities to finish her studies and excel slipping from her. As her final exams approach and her social life begins to fade, her pregnancy progresses, forcing her to confront the shame and pain of an abortion, even if she must risk prison to do so.

“The result is difficult to watch yet impossible to turn away from, the legitimacy of its naked honesty seeping from every rough corner and crevice of the production.” ~Warren Cantrell, The Playlist

“The film plays its private trauma as a harrowing thriller, and showcases a superb performance from Anamaria Vartolomei as Anne Duchesne, the agonised student in the spotlight.” ~Xan Brooks, The Guardian