Audrey Diwan is a filmmaker, author, and screenwriter who has collaborated with Valérie Donzelli, Cédric Jimenez, and Gilles Lellouche among others. She made her feature film directing debut with “Losing It,” starring Celine Sallette and Pio Marmai. Her second film, “Happening,” won the Golden Lion at the 2021 Venice Film Festival.
“Happening” is screening at the 2022 Sundance Film Festival, which is running online from January 20-30. More information can be found on the fest’s website.
W&H: Describe the film for us in your own words.
AD: My film is based on Annie Ernaux’s book, “Happening,” which is the writer’s story as a young student. She’s trying to get an illegal abortion in France, 1963, when the law absolutely forbade it. Her path is an absolute quest for freedom. She defends her sexual freedom, her pleasure, and her intellectual future as well.
W&H: What drew you to this story?
AD: When I got an abortion myself, I wanted to read about it. I knew many of Annie Ernaux’s books, but didn’t know “Happening.” I realized the huge gap between the experience of an illegal abortion and what I just went through. I felt a lack of representation. By reading, I could feel Anne’s pain in my own body.
W&H: What do you want people to think about after they watch the film?
AD: I wanted the movie to be an immersive experience. I don’t want people to think but to feel. What is it to be in that young woman’s body? Then, they’ll go on their own intellectual journey.
W&H: What was the biggest challenge in making the film?
AD: How to reach the feeling? Not looking at Anne but being her? How to make the film beyond period and genre? Leave the speech aside to embrace the logic of the body.
W&H: What inspired you to become a filmmaker?
AD: I have done a lot of experiments, I have often made mistakes, I learn from empirical evidence. And I think my mistakes have taught me a lot. I worked on writing in different forms — journalistic, romantic — before arriving at image as a necessary path. I am always looking for the exact form to express how I feel without prohibiting myself. But I must admit that I am slow… I am one of the people who needs time. I think my desire for achievement is as strong as it was late.
W&H: What’s the best and worst advice you’ve received?
AD: I forget what does not interest me or does not please me. But I started scriptwriting with Eric Rochant (“The Patriots,” “Le Bureau des Légendes”) who gave me a fundamental instruction: If you have no idea, don’t stay in front of your computer. Get out, walk, listen. He explained to me in a few words the intimate and essential connection between writing and life. I love creation when it rubs shoulders with reality.
W&H: What advice do you have for other women directors?
AD: Asking an industry to invest in a film is asking it to take a leap of faith. Nothing exists yet, especially in the case of a first feature film, and yet everyone has to believe in what will happen. But to convince, you have to be convinced. The fragility is revealed. Before embarking on this road, you must allow yourself to believe in yourself.
W&H: Name your favorite woman-directed film and why.
AD: I grew up in France — like many others, my cinephilia owes a lot to Agnès Varda. I like the freedom she takes with the form. The intimate journey that “Sans toit ni loi” (“Vagabond”) represents – it’s no coincidence that Sandrine Bonnaire plays Anne’s mother in my film. And the absolute purity of “Le Bonheur.” I never got over that movie.
W&H: How are you adjusting to life during the COVID-19 pandemic? Are you keeping creative, and if so, how?
AD: I was lucky, I was able to turn [around the film] between the first two waves without having a problem. The shooting had just been postponed by a few months with the first confinement. During this period, I chatted every day with Anamaria Vartolomei, my main actress. We worked remotely, exchanging references, films, novels, everything that allowed us to build the character in depth. Paradoxically, this period allowed me to realize the importance of this long time, before the shooting.
W&H: The film industry has a long history of underrepresenting people of color onscreen and behind the scenes and reinforcing — and creating — negative stereotypes. What actions do you think need to be taken to make it more inclusive?
AD: I belong to the 50/50 Collective and work with the association Le Lab de Cinéma. Both are interested in issues of inclusion and equality. For me, it is necessary to reform the look at the base. Interrogate our gaze when we begin to write, in order to better deconstruct it. What are the reflexes dictated by an unequal culture and society? How do you conceive of a character beyond unfair interpretations? You have to be uncompromising with your own system of thought.
