Happening

A horror movie without the spooky music. A film about what civilized countries went through years ago (and the United States still is), in which a young university student discovers she's pregnant but doesn't wish to keep the baby. Unfortunately, it's 1963 in France (abortion would be legalized in 1975) and the ordeal she has to suffer through to save her life would break lesser men -- all of them. This film will scar you as it does her, and it should.

It is **Happening**! Takes place in 1960s France when abortion was still illegal but it's relevant to today and still a huge debate, obviously. It felt like a realistic portrayal on abortion and being alienated by everyone for wanting it. It has strong themes and opinions on freedom, isolation, empowerment and empathy. The camera close-ups are used to make you feel uncomfortable and trapped. A real life horror with graphic disturbing imagery and a strong lead performance by Anamaria Vartolomei. I'm surprised I didn't get emotional at all though. I was empathetic towards her situation but it felt like the character was cold and underdevelopped, like I barely knew anything about her. Maybe a few more scenes of her actually talking and interacting with others and more scenes with her mother would of done it - then again i'm thinking they wanted to portray a situation instead of a character.