Happening

"It's a serious, gripping and finally honourable film."

— Xan Brooks, Guardian

"It's hard to think of a film more necessary in the current moment."

— David Jenkins, Little White Lies

"Diwan handles the reality of abortion with unforgettable plotting and imagery."

— Brian Tallerico, RogerEbert.com

"Unsettling and alarming. It’s based on a memoir, and it feels real in every scene."

— Randy Myers, San Jose Mercury News

"This period drama manages the difficult task of speaking to our current moment without being didactic or preachy."

— Derek Smith, Slant Magazine

"Diwan takes a sensitive subject with life-altering consequences, then personalizes and humanizes the circumstances."

— Dwight Brown, National Newspaper Publishers Association

"Softly poised but packing a wallop, French writer-director Audrey Diwan's sophomore film announces her as a major talent."

— Guy Lodge, Variety

"Deftly adapted by director Audrey Diwan from a novella, Happening is a period piece, but it’s acted and shot with a shivery immediacy."

— Robbie Collin, The Telegraph

"Diwan's camera stays focused on the most harrowing moments of Anne's experience, which makes Happening a difficult but often remarkable watch."

— Esther Zuckerman, Thrillist

"More than anything else, Diwan seems interested in exploring how, at many points in history, young women had no choice but to bear this particular burden alone."

— Natalia Winkelman, IndieWire

"The result is difficult to watch yet impossible to turn away from, the legitimacy of its naked honesty seeping from every rough corner and crevice of the production."

— Warren Cantrell, The Playlist

"Happening is a naturalistic, heart-breaking and relentless account of the multiple traumas and injustices that cascade when women are denied their basic bodily autonomy."

— Christopher Machell, CineVue

"Adapted from Annie Ernaux’s autobiographical novel, the film plays its private trauma as a harrowing thriller, and showcases a superb performance from Anamaria Vartolomei as Anne Duchesne, the agonised student in the spotlight."

— Xan Brooks, The Guardian

"Happening is often a tough watch, compassionate but brutally honest, and almost breathless in its chronicle of a struggle that has obviously stayed with the author for decades. This is a slice of clear-eyed French social-realism that will be meaningful to anyone who cares about personal freedoms."

— David Rooney, The Hollywood Reporter

"The film can be unrelenting: Several graphic scenes make it challenging to watch, and more than once, I caught myself holding my breath. As the story’s weeks stretch into months, you can see the tension gather in Anne’s piercing gaze. It’s as if her eyes might set the screen aflame with her frustration, fury, and—eventually—panic."

— Shirley Li, The Atlantic

"To call this movie timely would be both an understatement and a bit of a misnomer, since the battle for women’s bodily autonomy has never not been a timely issue. It might be more fitting to praise Happening for its urgency, not just because it arrives in American theaters under particularly fraught circumstances, but also because of the gut-clutching suspense and the wrenching intimacy that the director brings to the telling."

— Justin Chang, Los Angeles Times