A new film adaptation of a 2000 memoir, 'Happening,' about a French woman's illegal 1963 abortion, trades the book's specifity for universal power.
, the first in her family to attend college, was months away from graduating when she learned she was pregnant. “Happening,” published in France in 2000 and in English a year later,Audrey Diwan’s movie adaptation, whichat the 2021 Venice Film Festival and opens in U.S. theaters this week, relates young Anne’s experience while omitting many of the author’s recollections and ruminations.
and distilling insights from her present perspective. As Diwan jettisons the latter two components of “Happening,” the narrative loses some of what makes Ernaux’s work sui generis, but in so doing it takes on new universality. The result reminds viewers that this one specific happening, in all its peril and terror, stands in for millions of others.
Increasingly panicked, Anne is unable to concentrate on school. She makes an unsuccessful attempt with knitting needles at home. Finally, an acquaintance refers her to a Paris abortionist off a literal back alley, where she has the procedure at 12 weeks. It’s costly and excruciating, with no medication or follow-up care. It takes three days for Anne to miscarry in the bathroom back at her dorm; then, she begins to hemorrhage.
The abortion allowed the author — once she recovered — to finish school, start her career and have children when she was ready. Ernaux’s first published book, the autobiographical novel “Cleaned Out” , dealt with the incident as the ultimate step in her coming of age. She turned to memoir shortly thereafter, but she always felt compelled to recount her three-month ordeal in full; after 35 years, she set out to excavate it.
Singapore Latest News, Singapore Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
Kathy Boudin, 1960s radical imprisoned for fatal robbery, dies at 78Kathy Boudin, a 1960s radical who was a member of the militant leftist group Weather Underground and who was imprisoned for her involvement in a fatal robbery, has died at the age of 78, according to her son, Chesa Boudin, San Francisco's District Attorney.
Read more »
‘Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness’: Film ReviewSam Raimi returns to comic-book movies with a parallel-dimensions Doctor Strange adventure.
Read more »
A’s lose fourth straight as offense struggles and Rays hit JeffriesThe A’s couldn’t get much out of their offense at the Coliseum Monday night.
Read more »
This year’s Free Comic Book Day is for the kidsWhile Marvel and DC are pulling out the stops, it's the younger-skewing titles from Dav Pilkey that may spark the most interest.
Read more »