86
Metascore
36 reviews · Provided by Metacritic.com
- 94The AtlanticShirley LiThe AtlanticShirley LiThe 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.
- 91The PlaylistWarren CantrellThe PlaylistWarren CantrellThe 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.
- 91IndieWireNatalia WinkelmanIndieWireNatalia WinkelmanMore 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.
- 83The Film StageMitchell BeaupreThe Film StageMitchell BeaupreWhile her aesthetic may boast some grander flourishes than Hittman’s neorealism, there is nevertheless a vérité style to Diwan’s approach that places us right up against Anne for the majority of the film — a tight, boxed aspect ratio leads to the feeling of the walls closing in, her panic setting in just underneath the surface, observed in oft-used closeups of Vartolomei’s expressive face.
- 80The GuardianXan BrooksThe GuardianXan BrooksAdapted 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.
- 80The Hollywood ReporterDavid RooneyThe Hollywood ReporterDavid RooneyHappening 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.
- 80The TelegraphRobbie CollinThe TelegraphRobbie CollinDeftly adapted by director Audrey Diwan from a novella, Happening is a period piece, but it’s acted and shot with a shivery immediacy.
- 75Slant MagazineDerek SmithSlant MagazineDerek SmithThis period drama manages the difficult task of speaking to our current moment without being didactic or preachy.
- 70Screen DailyLee MarshallScreen DailyLee MarshallThere’s a slight lack of dramatic tension in much of the lead-up to its harrowing finale, with too much weight placed on the capable shoulders of the French-Romanian actress Anamaria Vartolomei.