We shall keep the honour - the rest, we shall give away

Continuing my trip up The Guardian's top 50 films of 2022

#47 : L'Événement (Happening)

Golden Lion-winning abortion drama, more relevant than ever, from director Audrey Diwan; a study of a woman (played by Anamaria Vartolomei) who becomes pregnant in early-60s, pre-legalisation France.

Another French film - at least this one's not black and white, I guess.  But I can't say the subject fills me with the prospect of a good time - I'm expecting something worthy, but not massively enjoyable.  Or possibly 100% grim.

Well, it's not 100% grim but I'd struggle to describe it as a casual watch.  We basically follow Anne who is still at school when she discovers she's pregnant and investigates what she can do about it.  Which, in early 60s France appears to be limited to "have the baby whilst being abandoned by everyone you've ever known" - unless you're prepared to go beyond what's legal.

And whilst I said it's not 100% grim, I do have to say there were some very grim scenes in it - some would say unnecessarily graphic, whereas others would say necessarily so.  However, somewhat ironically for the film's title, very little actually happens in it.  Which is probably sensible in terms of not distracting from the traumatic journey that Anne is undertaking, but it does feel a bit like you're just waiting for the next thing she's going to try and you know it's gonna be stressful.

And Anamaria Vartolomei really sells us on the journey - you really feel her confusion, pain, fear, shame, desperation and many other unwanted emotions.  It's an impressive and very unglamorous performance which marks her out as one to watch.  Louise Orry-Diquero, Louise Chevillotte and Luàna Bajrami also impress as her friends - to be honest, no-one else is really given enough to do to stand out.  They are all pretty mean to Anne though!

It's beautifully shot - really making the most of the lovely weather they seemed to have a lot of in early '60s France.  The style reminded of Call Me By Your Name - both are very sun-kissed, although the mood is somewhat darker here.  It uses an unusual (these days) aspect ratio - 1.37:1, which is apparently known as the Academy ratio because it was set as the standard aspect ratio by the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences in 1932 and was the standard format until 1952, but is rarely seen these days.  The last time we saw it was apparently The Tragedy Of Macbeth, which I mistakenly said was 4:3 - and it's odd because I immediately noticed this one wasn't quite 4:3, but obviously didn't with that film.

But, obviously the burning question that needs answering is - given it's a French film, are there gratuitous naked breasts on display?  Well, it's set in a girls school with communal showers - what do you think?  However, in the French "it's only a body" way, there's rarely any effort made to sexualise matters - they're just having an argument or shooting the breeze or whatever, but they just happen to have no clothes on.  All very French.

On a more serious note, it's a powerful and obviously timely film which is well acted and beautifully shot - but I really can't say I enjoyed it in the slightest.  But I guess there's an argument that it never hurts to suffer for an education, which it was - mostly because it had never occurred to me to think about it.  I'm not going to comment on the rights or wrongs of abortion because that's not my place but this film does a good job of telling one woman's story and the lengths she was prepared to go to - how people react to it will be entirely dependent upon them.  

Would I recommend the film?  Not really, to be honest - I'm just not sure who would enjoy it, but it's definitely a very admirable and impressive unenjoyable film.  At the time of writing, it's available to watch on MUBI (where you find that, I've no idea) or to rent or buy on the usual channels.

#48 - Lots of talking about feelings
#46 - A most entertaining watch