NEWS

The Davidson Film Club is pleased to invite you to a screening and discussion of the critically acclaimed French film, Happening, on Saturday, January 21, at 7:00 p.m. in the Armour Street Theatre in Davidson.

“With Roe overturned and people experiencing the consequences of abortion bans, it’s time to watch this movie.” Margot Harrison, Seven Days

Directed by Audrey Diwan
France (2021, 1h40)
In French w/English subtitles

**TRIGGER WARNING: This film contains images that may be disturbing for certain spectators, including brief full frontal female nudity and abortion measures.

Discussion of the film will be led by Georgia Ringle, Health Educator at Davidson College for over three decades.

Like so many other venues in our community at this time, we warmly encourage our patrons to wear a mask but do not require it. We will have masks available at the door for those who need one.

 *We have nearly a full house for this new series of films. Subscriptions are still being accepted for the moment, either on-line at our website (www.davidsonfilmclub.com), by mail (P.O. Box 32 in Davidson, 28036), or at the door by cash or check ($42) on Jan. 21, if seats are still available.

Walk-ins are welcome, $9 at the door, cash or check (no credit cards). Walk-ins must apply for a seat in advance at [email protected]. Walk-in seats are limited by availability.

Refreshments (red and white wine, bottled water, and snacks) will be made available by the Film Club.

Film Summary:

France, 1963. Anne is a bright young student with a promising future ahead of her, but when she becomes pregnant, she sees the opportunity to finish her studies and escape the constraints of her modest 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…An adaptation of Annie Ernaux’s novel of the same name, looking back on her experience with abortion when it was still illegal in France in the 1960s. Ernaux won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 2021.

Rotten Tomatoes Tomatometer 99%!

 Winner of the Golden Lion for Best Film and for Best Director at the Venice Film Festival, a César for Most Promising Actress, the Lumière Award for Best Film and Best Actress, and multiple other Best Director and Best Actress awards and nominations at film festivals around the world.

 “Happening is an honest, harrowing, frighteningly timely, moving, and powerful experience.” Matt Hudson, What I Watched Tonight

 “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.” Danny Leigh, Financial Times

 “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.” Kathleen Sachs, Chicago Reader

 “Happening plays at a surprisingly quick pace, wrapping us up in the suffocating, terrifying totality of the situation. It’s only Diwan’s second film, but it feels like veteran work — so engrossing, so carnal, so full of empathy that it hurts to look at.” Luke Hicks, Film School Rejects

 “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.” Brandon Judell (Medium)

 User Reviews:

“Probably the most “need to be seen movie” out there. It shows the ugly truth about where our country is headed if we don’t do something! The desperation and loneliness of Anne is visceral and hard to watch, but it must be seen.”

“Poignant, powerful film demonstrating the impossible conflict for girls and women pitted against the oppressive laws written by men [. . .]. Brilliant writing, acting, and directing leaves no emotion unexplored, taking the audience prisoner from the beginning.”

 Our updated website at www.davidsonfilmclub.com features the whole current series (Jan-June. 2023) and film descriptions. Have you Bookmarked it? 

We are a non-profit, tax-exempt organization run by volunteers that only exists to bring you fine international fiction films and engage in stimulating discussion about them.

 Alan Singerman
President, Davidson Film Club
[email protected]
(704) 231-6736