L’evenement aka Happening, winner of The Golden Lion at the 2021 Venice Film Festival https://www.imdb.com/title/tt13880104/awards/?ref_=tt_awd based on the novel Happening by Annie Ernaux - 10 out of 10

 

L’evenement aka Happening, winner of The Golden Lion at the 2021 Venice Film Festival https://www.imdb.com/title/tt13880104/awards/?ref_=tt_awd based on the novel Happening by Annie Ernaux

10 out of 10

 

 

This magic work of art has brought to mind one of the Best 100 Movies Ever Made (at one point, I know it was on the TIME Magazine’s list, but never mind that, it is on mine) 4 Months, 3 Weeks and Two Days by marvelous Cristian Mungiu http://realini.blogspot.com/2017/05/4-months-3-weeks-and-2-days-aka-4-luni.html wherein we have a young woman facing the issue of abortion, in the time of Ceausescu, the tyrant who wanted to rule over as many as possible, therefore he banned any means of birth control, making it a very serious offence, no matter what the circumstances, just like some of the American red states (that is Trumpian) are imposing inhumane, blanket bans, specific to the Dark Ages.

 

Indeed, I have had my own experiences with the illegal situation – let me just emphasize again that this is not about the book per se, but about the film inspired by the opus of Annie Ernaux, I did not find an entry for the motion picture, and besides, look at where this scribbling is going, it does not even concentrate on the film, which means that this is often the drill here, the pretense is one subject or another, film book, but then I take off on a tangent, and write about ‘nothing like the sun’, the concern of the day, or some permanent obsession – for there have been two abortions under Ceausescu, which were in part my responsibility, that would be at least half of the blame, without the associated pain

Once it was the wonderful girlfriend, Sherika aka Dana Andronescu, maybe the person with the most beautiful inside, soul, who got pregnant, and we had to find a solution, which came from a…basement, where my mother used to work, for a printing shop, and she had had a colleague with lots of experience and contacts, including with a person who performed the dangerous ‘operation’, just like in Happening, using a knitting needle to provoke the death of the fetus (I Guess that is what must have happened)

 

This took place sometime later, as we went to the apartment where I lived with my parents, and after some time, the ‘elimination’ took place in the bathroom, and we did not have to become parents – one has to wonder what life would have been like, had we gone to have a child, it is not clear that it would have been that bad – I probably would have missed on the participation in the Revolution http://realini.blogspot.com/2022/03/realini-in-newsweek-participant-in.html as responsible father, I would have avoided exposure in the Roman Square, to try and overthrow Ceausescu, and would not have had the chance to be the lover of the first Miss Moldova, the first in decades, due to the dictatorship…

Anamaria Vartolomei, an actress from our realm, nominated for and winner of important trophies, portrays Anne Duchesne, including one Cesar – the young woman wants to be a teacher first, and then a writer, and we could easily assume that this is the Happening that Annie Ernaux was involved in…

 

She becomes pregnant in 1964 – a very important one, this is when I was born – when in France, attitudes on abortion were much like those in Ceausescu’s territory, with the operation banned, and doctors against it, apparently in a majority, one is so damn fervent, fundamentalist and bigoted that when he prescribes something to the poor girl, he in fact gives her something that strengthens the fetus…

Thus, all attempts that the woman makes are destined to fail, she tries heavy lifting, uses the shots given by this mad doctor, which have the opposite effect, she tries herself to inflict a terminal wound on the small creature inside her – I hesitated here, nearly putting in ‘baby’, which he, she or they are not, at that stage, but I must say that though in favor of women’s choice to determine what happens with their bodies, pretty much of a progressive and liberal on most, or all fronts, including this one, there is a feeling that something more modern, civilized, advanced as our civilization is (or it is not, considering the barbarism of Putin, his allies and acolytes, from North Korea to…shockingly South Africa, which has military maneuvers with the Russians, as we speak, Lula of Brazil is a fan, so many others, never mind China, a terrible tyranny, that in the near future will attack and presumably occupy and eat Taiwan) than to just eliminate the fetus, as in killing an inferior being, not human at that stage, but still, a breathing creature…

 

There are passages that are gruesome, it is terrible for Anne to go through this trauma – ironically her name is close to Duchenne, which is in psychology the ‘authentic smile’ and studies have shown the importance of positivity – there is a classic by Barbara Fredrickson http://realini.blogspot.com/2017/11/experiments.html called Positivity, she has identified awe, interest, amusement, inspiration, hope, gratitude, pride, serenity, joy, and especially love as the components of positivity – in our lives, those who are optimistic have longer, more successful private and professional lives, they get sick less often, when they are ill, they stay so for shorter periods, in short, try it, it is fun

 

http://realini.blogspot.com/2017/11/experiments.html even a small, but genuine smile (again, called Duchenne) makes a difference, and in this experiment, they took photos from the end of college and discovered that those who smiled in these photos were like above, more successful in their private and professional lives…researchers went to see those folks after years to put down what has happened with them…

happening is an invitation to look at what happens with women when they are forced into a corner, in societies which forbid abortions, the dangers are horrible, if they want to have a career and study, it is almost impossible with a child at a tender age, then the options are so perilous, legally and medically, that the story of Anne Duchesne, terrifying as it certainly is, will not be an isolated case, there are millions of women that have to face such cataclysmic prospects, even in an advanced country as America, indeed, until recently, the land of the free, of limitless possibilities, and a model to the world…I am still a militant for that model, but that is when placed in contrast with Russia, China and the like http://realini.blogspot.com/2022/02/unique-in-world.html?q=unique+in+the+world call if you need details about the link