L’événement

In France in the early 1960s, promising literature student Anne becomes pregnant. She’s determined not to keep the baby, but abortion is illegal and can get you into jail. As time moves on, Anne is getting more and more desperate for a way out.

When her period is late, 23-year-old Anne (Anamaria Vartolomei) visits her doctor. He tells her that she’s pregnant. ‘Do something,’ Anne pleads. ‘You can’t ask me that,’ the doctor says. ‘You can’t ask anybody.’ In France in 1963, abortion is illegal. For Anne, who wants to escape her working-class roots through an academic education, there seems to be no other choice than to quit her studies and become a fulltime mother.

Although keeping the baby is no option for Anne, she turns out to be all alone in her predicament. Doctors can’t help or are unreliable, and even her best friends shy away when they hear of Anne’s situation. The baby’s father – a boy from another town she met once – seems to duck his responsibility. While the weeks pass, Anne’s options are rapidly diminishing and she turns to dangerous methods.