The Event: Golden Lion in Venice in 2021
In September 2021, French director Audrey Diwan created an event with her aptly named film, which won the prestigious Golden Lion, the supreme award, at the Venice Film Festival. The feature film is the adaptation of the autobiographical novel of the same name by Annie Ernaux, published in 2000. Inside, the author recounted her struggle to have an abortion in France in the 1960swhen abortion was punishable by law and the contraceptive pill was not yet legalised.
The event follows a young woman, Anne (played by Anamaria Vartolomei), who undertakes brilliant studies in literature. But her future darkens when she discovers she is pregnant, a few months before her exams. Faced with a society that did not yet recognize women’s right to control their own bodies, she makes the resolute decision to have an abortion, whatever the consequences, even for her own life.
Audrey Diwan’s film candidly shows what the path to clandestine abortion looked like in France in the 1960s. At that time, not so long ago, women who wanted an abortion did not have much choice and turned to those who were nicknamed “angel makers”, which practically practices clandestine abortions, and in rudimentary conditions, which could lead to the deaths of young women. Some of them also decided to abort at home, alone, using knitting needles.
From discomfort to projections
Audrey Diwan chose an almost square frame for The eventto better embrace Anne’s point of view and make viewers feel the urgency of this race against time. A true intimate thriller, the film contains sequences that may be difficult for some to bear. The director, in fact, has always wanted to make her feature film a physical cinematic experience, asking viewers not to look at Anne, but to try to be her.
Thus, some scenes caused discomfort during screenings, particularly at the Venice film festival (we are here to witness it). This addictive devicewhich does not look away, was thought out to last the duration of the hardest sequences, as Audrey Diwan explained to us at the time of the film’s release in November 2021:
This intensity reflects the sometimes painful experiences the heroine goes through. Finding the perfect balance in the duration of these moments was a challenge: it was a matter of navigating between the theoretical expression of suffering, such as simply signaling “she is suffering”, and the risk of falling into excess. The goal was to determine the exact time needed to authentically convey these realities without falling into excess or trivialization.
The event by Audrey Diwan you will be able to (re)discover it on Tuesday 5 March on France 2. It will be available in repeat for seven days on the France Télévisions website.
Source: Cine Serie
Ray Ortiz is a journalist at Gossipify, known for his coverage of trending news and current events. He is committed to providing readers with accurate and unbiased reporting, and is respected for his ability to keep readers informed on the latest news and issues.
