A Golden Lion is a Golden Lion, regardless of whether it is attributed to a man or a woman. But we know that the impact is not the same when the prestigious award is given to a director, who is also young. Because we are not used to it.
It was therefore a wave, Saturday evening September 11, when the president of the jury of the 78e edition of the Venice Film Festival, the South Korean filmmaker Bong Joon-ho, awarded the Golden Lion to a little-known filmmaker, Audrey Diwan, born in 1980, director of The Event, a film on abortion – it is adapted from the eponymous and autobiographical novel by Annie Ernaux, published in 2000 by Gallimard.
We will not say that this is a feminist Golden Lion. Because, beyond its subject, The event has this simple and radical form – a sort of filmed newspaper, with tight framing – which is the stuff of great films, as long as the main actress is exceptional. This is the case of the Franco-Romanian actress Anamaria Vartolomei.
Resist in the face of what will be said
We do not leave Anne, a student of literature, who finds herself pregnant in the early 1960s. Coming from a modest background and determined not to “finish” a housewife, she desperately seeks to end her pregnancy. while abortion is prohibited in France (it will be legalized in 1975 with the Veil law). Anne wants to find the courage to talk about it – but to whom? ; it must hold on, not crack. It is the young woman’s ability to “swallow” her pain, in silence, that overwhelms. Or to resist in the face of what will be said.
This raw and atmospheric drama favors the off-screen to make felt the calvary of the character. The event leans towards genre film, with the embryo becoming something of an alien in the womb – the clandestine abortion scene sparked unease during a screening we were attending on the evening of Sunday, September 5. Distributed by Wild Bunch, the film is set to hit theaters on February 2, 2022.
Writer and screenwriter – she co-wrote North Bac with the director Cédric Jimenez -, Audrey Diwan was moved to tears by receiving her prize. The filmmaker simply brandished the statuette, for a minute that seemed very long, before sending the thanks for the circumstances and calling Anamaria Vartolomei on stage, her blue eyes wet. “You wear the film and it’s our victory”, said the filmmaker, who made this feature film with “Anger” and “desire”. Because there is always a State in the world to weaken the right to abortion, hard won. We move forward three squares, then move back two.
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