Pedro Almodóvar’s “Parallel Mothers” was in competition this past September at the Venice Film Festival. The film ended up winning Penelope Cruz the Best Actress Award (otherwise known as the Volpi Cup). However, Almodovar is not a fan of the film that took home the top prize at Venice.
Speaking to a French outlet, Almodovar revealed he was not impressed by Audrey Diwan’s Golden Lion winning drama “Happening.”:
“The film tackles a very important topic, but, not to be mean to the director, there have been much better films on the subject matter — Cristi Mungiu’s “4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days,” Claude Chabrol’s “Une Affaire de Femmes,” and Mike Leigh’s “Vera Drake.”
I’ll have to disagree with Almodovar on this one. I found “Happening” to be thoroughly engaging and very perceptive.
The “abortion drama” is very much now an arthouse genre in itself, but only a handful of films have truly stuck out; “4 Months, 3 Weeks and Two Days,” “Never Rarely Sometimes Always” and “Vera Drake” are the essentials. You can add “Happening to that shortlist this instance. It’s a small-scaled masterwork.
IFC Films and FilmNation recently won the bidding war for the rights to distribute the film in the U.S. Expect a bow at Sundance in January and a first quarter release in 2022.