The theme film of the French woman Blandine Lenoir reminded me of an American film that appeared almost at the same time. It is about the biographical drama “Call Jane” by Phyllis Nagy, in which Elizabeth Banks was an American housewife from the late sixties who by chance got involved in a then illegal organization that helped women who chose abortion. Apart from America, at the same time abortion was illegal in France, where the action of “Annie Colere” or “Furious Annie” takes place, only a few years later, in the early seventies. And just as Banks was in fine form as Jane, so is Laure Calamy in fine form as Annie, a 40-year-old from the French provinces employed in a local factory.
She is happily married and the mother of two children, but she became pregnant again and will seek the help of an organization that helps women who find themselves in the same situation. Abortion is still illegal in France and cannot be performed in hospitals, and an organization called MLSC not only offers free, safe and painless abortions, but also psychological support for women who find themselves in a situation like Annie’s. Grateful for the help provided, Annie will join the activities of that organization and will start helping other women herself, and at the same time she herself will go through the process of emancipation and become a self-aware woman who knows what she wants.
However, since this is a European art film, everything here seems naturalistic, real, unlike the previously mentioned “Call Jane”, which was nevertheless Hollywoodized and adapted to the American market. We have a great context of the time here and we see that not only abortion was a taboo topic, but also contraception was something that was not really talked about, and we understand that France was then a conservative environment with a strong influence of the Catholic Church, which as a rule was furious at announcements that abortion could be legalized. But at the same time, “Furious Annie” is also a fine character study, an intimate psychological drama about a woman who will undergo a real transformation.
In the beginning, Annie is one of those typical women of her time who doesn’t ask anything, stays silent, works, raises children, she doesn’t even stand out from the then standard roles that society imposed on women like her. But with time, Annie will begin to transform into a strong, self-aware woman. It is a film with a strong feminist flair that celebrates women’s solidarity and shows what all women had to go through before abortion became legal and how important organizations like this were. This film had its premiere at the festival in Locarno, and it is a high-quality and empathetic drama that convincingly conveys the spirit of the times.