Last Friday, the Supreme Court made the landmark decision to overturn the 1973 court case Roe vs. Wade, stripping people in the United States of the right to abortion. Many pieces of media, especially movies, were made about this controversial topic in the months building up to this decision. Many are made by female filmmakers and reflect their opinions on abortion.
Happening is one such film. Winner of the 2021 Golden Lion award at the Venice Film Festival, Audrey Diwan’s movie tells the story of Annie, a young French woman, and her quest to get an abortion in France in 1963. This movie is honest and unflinching and accurately portrays the fear and urgency Annie feels.
While Happening was released before Roe vs. Wade was overturned, director Audrey Diwan has much to say about this decision. The French director writes, “I have two children, thirteen and fourteen. A boy and a girl. I raised them telling them that they were equal. I can’t imagine having to tell them otherwise, to explain to them that I was wrong, to my son that he remains free, and to my daughter that she no longer is. This story seems dystopian to me.”
Such is the reaction of women around the world, wondering if their country will be next to strip away such essential rights. The mere fact that any women in the world can relate to issues about freedom in 1963 raises concerns about the state of society today. If our society is currently moving backwards, what does it mean for minorities who historically had little or no rights?
A more modern film about abortion is Never Rarely Sometimes Always. Eliza Hittman’s film, although decades apart from Happening, inexplicably tells the same story. Autumn, the protagonist, must make the harrowing journey from rural Pennsylvania to New York as she tries to terminate her pregnancy. It offers a look into one girl’s daunting journey to seek a safe abortion.
Hittman wanted to raise awareness about the fact that getting an abortion is not easy, even now. “The films that I had seen about abortion, and dealt with the representation of abortion on screen, had all been told from male points of views and male lenses,” she says. “I really wanted to reclaim that narrative. I think there are a lot of films that exist in the world that explore how hard it is to get an illegal abortion in 1970, and I wanted to show audiences that actually it’s really hard to get a legal abortion in 2021.”
Happening is one such film. Winner of the 2021 Golden Lion award at the Venice Film Festival, Audrey Diwan’s movie tells the story of Annie, a young French woman, and her quest to get an abortion in France in 1963. This movie is honest and unflinching and accurately portrays the fear and urgency Annie feels.
While Happening was released before Roe vs. Wade was overturned, director Audrey Diwan has much to say about this decision. The French director writes, “I have two children, thirteen and fourteen. A boy and a girl. I raised them telling them that they were equal. I can’t imagine having to tell them otherwise, to explain to them that I was wrong, to my son that he remains free, and to my daughter that she no longer is. This story seems dystopian to me.”
Such is the reaction of women around the world, wondering if their country will be next to strip away such essential rights. The mere fact that any women in the world can relate to issues about freedom in 1963 raises concerns about the state of society today. If our society is currently moving backwards, what does it mean for minorities who historically had little or no rights?
A more modern film about abortion is Never Rarely Sometimes Always. Eliza Hittman’s film, although decades apart from Happening, inexplicably tells the same story. Autumn, the protagonist, must make the harrowing journey from rural Pennsylvania to New York as she tries to terminate her pregnancy. It offers a look into one girl’s daunting journey to seek a safe abortion.
Hittman wanted to raise awareness about the fact that getting an abortion is not easy, even now. “The films that I had seen about abortion, and dealt with the representation of abortion on screen, had all been told from male points of views and male lenses,” she says. “I really wanted to reclaim that narrative. I think there are a lot of films that exist in the world that explore how hard it is to get an illegal abortion in 1970, and I wanted to show audiences that actually it’s really hard to get a legal abortion in 2021.”
