Happening – 7

A one-trick pony on an unpleasant journey. I take it this was based on Annie Ernaux’s experience seeking an illegal abortion in 1963 France (similar in monotone to her 2002 memoir which I’m currently reading about her affair with a Russian diplomat). The acting was impeccable and realistic, a la Francaise, but the film wasn’t easy to watch. From the start we knew where we were going, just not exactly how we’d get there. The subject, an important one, was handled more to my appreciation in Call Jane.