Director Audrey Diwan on ‘Happening,’ Abortion, and Women’s Freedom – ELLE

I really believe that there is a strong relationship between the most intimate thing and the most political, says director Audrey Diwan. Her film Happening (now in theaters; streaming June 21) follows an ambitious high schooler, Anne, who faces an unplanned pregnancy in 1960s France. In choosing to get a covert abortion, Anne risks everythingher relationships, her lifefor a shot at a brighter future. Given the recent leaked Supreme Court decision set to overturn Roe v. Wade, Happening feels all too timely in its telling of a young girls quest for an abortion or, as Diwan puts it, her quest for freedom.

Happening is based on writer Annie Ernauxs 2001 autobiography, which struck Diwan for its brutal honesty. Diwan couldnt shake the stark differences between Ernauxs experience and her own medicalized abortion. I realized how lucky I was being born in 1980, she tells ELLE.com. Illegal abortion is filled with randomness. Who is the woman going to meet? Is this person going to help her or turn her in to the police? Is she going to end up in jail? Is she going to survive or die?

Ernauxs book stayed with Diwan for a year and a half before she began writing the screenplay. As it revealed itself, the story became one not so much about abortion, but about a driven girls desire for sexual and intellectual freedom. This is where Diwan drew inspiration from her own life. She and co-writer Marcia Romano discussed how best to bring sexuality into the story. Its part of our lives, Diwan says. Why should we be ashamed? I think that pleasure is beautiful, and the shame is a social product. So, she brought these subjects into the fold organically, first as a conversation between girlfriends, then in sexual imagery, then with a friend showing another how you do it, until finally, Anne is ready to think about her own pleasure, to embrace it, Diwan explains.

Happening is the kind of movie that stays with you long after its over, perhaps because of its intimacy and immediacy. The films crew, which was made up of some of Diwans longtime friends and collaborators, operated as a single brain. The director of photography became Annes shadow, pulling the focus of her eyes. Diwan approaches her subject patiently and without judgement. Her camera sits with Anne during some particularly excruciating moments in the process, making for a visceral, intensely physical viewing experience. We dwell in Annes silences and in her pain. Thats the point. What if we dont watch this girlwhat if we are this girl? What if we can relate to her beyond age, beyond gender? Diwan asks.

Embodying others experiences is the reason Diwan became a filmmaker to begin with. Through cinema, she says, Ive traveled through many lives and Im not the same person because it touches my psyche somehow. Shell pursue another womans story on her next project, which was announced this week: a reinvention of the 60s erotic novel Emmanuelle, starring La Seydoux. In a continuation of her work on Happening, its a story told through the body.

[Abortions are] happening, no question. The only question is how much pain we as human beings agree that girls should go through.

Diwans primary purpose in making Happening was to create art. But, from a political lens, she welcomes the dialogue that her film has sparked. At best, it becomes a vehicle for conversation, for opening minds. We all know that when girls are not allowed to have legal abortions, they go illegal. This is happening, no question. The only question is how much pain we as human beings agree that girls should go through.

In the film, those questions and confrontations are brought forth by actor Anamaria Vartolomei, in whom Diwans found an intellectual partner. As a director, I want to build with the actor, she says. Vartolomei thrived in the roles simplicity, which served the film well, as even the smallest inkling of a smile is magnified through Diwans camera.

Despite the years Diwan spent on the projectwriting it, pitching it, selling it, and ultimately receiving the 2021 Venice Film Festivals Golden Lion award for itits difficult for her to remove herself from the story. When you tell the truth, you get hurt, she says. I remember during one sequence on set, I was very concentrated until I was crying so loudly that the sound engineer came to me and said, Audrey, Im sorry, I cant hear anymore. Im the first viewer, the first audience, of the movie. It wasnt easy to make, for sure.

Diwans portrayal of a young girl undergoing an illegal abortion is unflinchingbut at no point did the director set out to make a moral movie. I love the fact that the book starts, and she has already decided. So, its not a movie about how you make the choice. Its about how you actually make it happen. Partway into the film, after Anne has gone through a brutally painful abortion attempt, she defends her decision to her doctor. I would like a child one day, but not instead of a life, she says. Herein lies the radical earnestness of Diwans storytelling. Its the story of one girl with big dreams in 1960s provincial France. But, as is the case with the most deeply personal stories, it might just be the kind of story that helps others.

I never tried to make the movie a manifesto, Diwan says, but I knew that it would become organically political because I was really trying to tell the truth about that girl, and then, it becomes a story about many girls in the world. While touring with the film earlier this month, Diwan found herself in Atlanta days before the Supreme Court leak. After the screening, a group of young girls approached her and said, We are the girls that are going to die. I went back home, hearing those girls and thinking, Where are the people that actually listen to them? Diwan says. It was a very strange and strong moment, feeling between fiction and reality.

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Director Audrey Diwan on 'Happening,' Abortion, and Women's Freedom - ELLE