Anamaria Vartolomei has been collecting wins and adulation for her emotional, harrowing turn in Audrey Diwan’s “Happening” (“L’événement”), including two of France’s most coveted awards: a Lumière and a César. Based on Annie Ernaux’s novel of the same name, the 1960s-era drama about a young woman in need of an illegal abortion feels as urgent as ever today. The 23-year-old Vartolomei has been acting for a decade now; but digging into the film’s rich material has given the French-Romanian star a chance to show audiences what she’s really made of.
With “Happening,” she hopes to give voice to women who have struggled before her.
“After I first read the script, I bought the book, and I discovered that I was really ignorant towards the subject. I had no idea about the real process of an illegal abortion or what it actually [entailed]. I was really shocked at first, and really angry at the lack of knowledge I had—and [the reality] that this is what many women have to face when they want to abort in a country that doesn’t allow them to. I wanted to give them justice. I was so happy to be part of a project that puts this topic in the spotlight and takes some of the taboo and the silence away.”
Vartolomei and Diwan avoided over-rehearsing the film’s more demanding sequences.
“The physically painful scenes—we didn’t rehearse them, because Audrey didn’t want to mechanize them. As they say, I believe in the magic that only happens between ‘action’ and ‘cut.’ There are things that you can’t anticipate. It would have made no sense to me to try to [overwork] these scenes, because it’s about feelings. It’s about abandoning yourself into a situation and not thinking about it too much. Let the character arise, and trust the director. Fully go into it and let yourself go.”
Diwan made her feel comfortable enough on set to not be “scared of failure.”
“Audrey gave me so much space and time to just search [for the character]. Before, I kind of had the pressure of: OK, I’m the actress. I have to arrive on set and do my work in very few shots and be very efficient. And it’s not about that. I have the right to search on set, too, and to not be scared to say, ‘I don’t know.’ ”
Her no. 1 audition tip: That time is yours to take.
“Be confident. Ask questions if you have them. It’s an audition, but you also have to understand your character to be able to play it. It’s rare, but if the director is there and you have the chance, try to exchange and create a good conversation. If you have doubts or questions, feel confident to ask them and express your doubts so you can move [forward] together.”
This story originally appeared in the May 5 issue of Backstage Magazine.