Sightlines · reception
How Happening was received
2021 · Audrey Diwan · Happening on Sightlines
The arc
It won the Golden Lion at Venice 2021 (from Bong Joon-ho's jury) yet arrived in the US quietly in spring 2022 — then the Roe v. Wade reversal and Annie Ernaux's Nobel Prize months later turned a modest arthouse release into essential, urgent viewing.
What’s debated
Film fans keep debating whether its unflinching hardest scenes are necessary witness or endurance-test cinema — and whether a Golden Lion winner this recent has ever been so under-seen.
Its footprint
It became the go-to citation in post-Dobbs conversations about abortion on screen, routinely invoked alongside 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days as the modern benchmark for the subject.
Where it stands
A canon climber: a Letterboxd-beloved 'why isn't everyone talking about this' pick that gets pressed on people as required viewing.
Did you know? Its US theatrical release in May 2022 landed within days of the leaked Supreme Court draft overturning Roe v. Wade — a coincidence so stark that Diwan spent the press tour being asked about American politics instead of 1960s France.
Named by the director
- Rosetta (1999) — Diwan and star Anamaria Vartolomei used the Dardennes' film as their main reference for Anne's soldier-like determination.
- Son of Saul (2015) — Diwan cited Nemes's boxed-in, shallow-focus immersion as a model for the film's tight framing.
- Vagabond (1985) — One of the films Diwan screened with her lead actress as preparation for the role.
- Elephant (2003) — Diwan named Van Sant's close-following camera among the film's visual references.
- Fish Tank (2009) — Andrea Arnold's film was among those Diwan watched with Vartolomei to shape the character.
- Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne — Diwan pointed to the Dardennes' mobile, body-centred tracking style as a touchstone for how the camera stays with Anne.