Happening

83%

RT Critics’ Score: 99% (based on 161 reviews)
RT Audience Score: 71%
Awards & Nominations: #N/A

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Critics Consensus

A tough but rewarding watch, Happening puts a personal face on an impossibly difficult choice and its heart-rending aftermath.

Audience Consensus

Storyline
France, 1963. Anne is a bright young student with a promising future ahead of her. But when she falls pregnant, she sees the opportunity to finish her studies and escape the constraints of her social background disappearing. With her final exams fast approaching and her belly growing, Anne resolves to act, even if she has to confront shame and pain, even if she must risk prison to do so… Based on the 2000 autobiographical novel by Annie Ernaux.

Tagline

Production Company(ies)
Foreign Language, Social

Distributor
IFC Films

Release Date:
05-06-2022

Release Type
THEATRICAL, THEATRICAL (LIMITED)

Filming Location(s)

MPAA / Certificate
R

Year of Release
2022

Technical Specs

Color:
Sound mix:
Aspect ratio:

1.37 : 1
Runtime:

1 h 40 m
Language(s):

French
Country of origin:

France
Release date:

Nov 24, 2022

Genre(s)
Anime, Biographical, Dance, Drama, Family, Health, Literary Adaptation, Medical, Music, Period Piece, War

Keyword(s)
Foreign Language Drama Movie, Health / Fitness Drama Movie, Literary Adaptation Drama Movie, Period Piece, Movies Directed by Audrey Diwan, Movies Written by Audrey Diwan, Movies Written by Anne Berest, Movies Written by Marcia Romano, Movies Starring Anamaria Vartolomei, Movies Starring Kacey Mottet Klein, Movies Starring Luana Bajrami, Movies Starring Louise Orry-Diquero, Movies Starring Louise Chevillotte, Movies Starring Pio Marmai, Movies Starring Sandrine Bonnaire, Movies Starring Anna Mouglalis, Movies Starring Leonor Oberson, Movies Starring Fabrizio Rongione, Rectangle Productions Movie, France 3 Cinema Movie, Wild Bunch Movie, SRAB Films Movie, Canal+ Movie, Cine+ Movie, France Télévisions Movie, Region Ile-de-France Movie, La Region Nouvelle Aquitaine Movie, Centre National du Cinema et de L’image Animee Movie, Cofinova Movie, Procirep Movie, Movies from 2022, Movies from the 2020s, Low Budget Movie, Movies from France, French Language, Sundance Film Festival, Venice Film Festival Winners, Venice Film Festival, BAFTA Awards Nominees, Centre National du Cinema et de L’image Animee Movie, Health Drama Movie, Female Director, Female Writer, Female Producer, Latin/Hispanic Writer

Box Office Details

Worldwide gross: NA
Worldwide gross (inflation-adjusted): NA
Worldwide gross ranking (inflation-adjusted): NA
Worldwide tickets sold (est.): NA

US/Canada gross: NA
US/Canada gross (inflation-adjusted): NA
US/Canada gross ranking (inflation-adjusted): NA
US/Canada opening weekend: $33,312
US/Canada opening weekend (inflation-adjusted): $33,312
US/Canada opening weekend ranking (inflation-adjusted): 2,307

Budget and Earnings Details
Production budget (est.): €5,200,000
Production budget (inflation-adjusted): $5,200,000
Production budget ranking: 1,776
Marketing and distribution budget (inflation-adjusted est.): $2,800,200
Box office net earnings to date (inflation-adjusted est.): NA
ROI to date (est.): NA
ROI ranking: NA

Cast & Crew

Anamaria Vartolomei
Anne Duchesne

Sandrine Bonnaire
Gabrielle Duchesne

Kacey Mottet Klein
Jean

Luàna Bajrami
Hélène

Louise Orry-Diquéro
Brigitte

Louise Chevillotte
Olivia

Director(s)

Writer(s)

Executive(s)
NA

Film Festivals
Sundance, Venice

Awards & Nominations
#N/A

Academy Awards

Top Reviews

HAPPENING
All Critics (161) | Top Critics (50) | Fresh (160) | Rotten (1)
It’s brutal in spots, but especially vital to watch right now.

August 5, 2022

Alissa Wilkinson
Vox
TOP CRITIC
the film, calibrated in passing weeks, closely tracks Anne’s efforts – greatly circumscribed and increasingly desperate – to choose her own future.

August 2, 2022

Anton Bitel
Little White Lies
TOP CRITIC
Anamaria Vartolomei’s lead performance is necessarily and intensely physical—and subject to some harrowing bodily choreography in the homestretch—but what binds us to her is a sense of the perceptive, gifted writer trapped behind weary, terrified eyes.

July 9, 2022

Adam Nayman
The Ringer
TOP CRITIC
Not a moment feels didactic, and Anne never seems like a case study. Instead, the film thrums with the practical resolve of a young woman desperate to begin her own life before creating another.

June 10, 2022 | Rating: 4/5

Danny Leigh
Financial Times
TOP CRITIC
Despite its decades-ago setting, Happening has never been more relevant, particularly for audiences in America. Diwan’s drama serves as a warning of what people may experience if Roe is overturned.

May 17, 2022 | Rating: A-

Kimber Myers
Crooked Marquee
TOP CRITIC
The no-holds-barred approach to the abortion procedure and its aftermath is the kind of interpretation of real life that great cinema does best.

May 14, 2022

Kathleen Sachs
Chicago Reader
TOP CRITIC
The most-need-to-be-seen feature of the year . . . . In this grippingly honest, no-holds-barred film, a 23-year-old lit student seeks an abortion in 1963 France, an act for which she, her doctor, and anyone else who aids her can be sent to prison.

August 14, 2022 | Rating: 9/10

Brandon Judell
Brandon Judell (Medium)
When Diwan has to choose between reckoning the protagonist or impacting the audience, she chooses the latter. And for a few minutes, everything falls apart… almost impeccable otherwise. Almost. [Full review in Spanish]

August 8, 2022 | Rating: 3/5

Victor Esquirol
Otroscines.com
No, it’s not an upbeat subject. But perhaps now, with Roe overturned and people experiencing the consequences of abortion bans, it’s time to watch this movie.

July 28, 2022 | Rating: 4.5/5

Margot Harrison
Seven Days
Diwan relies on a raw and daring mise-en-scène, and avoids becoming a pamphlet. [Full review in Spanish]

July 26, 2022 | Rating: 8/10

Juan Pablo Russo
EscribiendoCine
Happening is an honest, harrowing, frighteningly timely, moving, and powerful experience.

July 25, 2022 | Rating: 10/10

Matt Hudson
What I Watched Tonight
Happening presenta con firmeza cómo la experiencia traumática no radica en el acto del aborto en sí, sino en el terror que genera un embarazo forzado por falta de apoyo médico adecuado.

July 4, 2022 | Rating: 4/5

Josie Melendez
Todas PR…

Synopsis (Warning: Spoilers!)