Angry Annie
It’s 1970s France, and factory worker Annie has just become pregnant with her third child. Wishing to terminate her pregnancy, she learns of a compassionate and clandestine organization, the Movement for the Liberty of Abortion and Contraception, which will change her life.
Laure Calamy ("Call My Agent!") is Annie, a French factory worker married with two children who finds herself in need of an abortion. The film is set in the early 1970s, when abortion was still illegal in France, so Annie turns to France's real-life Movement for Liberty of Abortion and Contraception (MLAC), an underground movement dedicated to providing safe abortions, access to contraception, and sex education as well as activism in support of women's rights and freedom of choice. Following the group's founding in 1973, local chapters sprang up across the country consisting mostly of volunteers and some liberal-minded doctors. Nervous and hesitant at first, Annie is surprised at the ease of her Karman's-method abortion and moved by the camaraderie and compassion of the women who provide it. Those providing the abortions, as well as those receiving them, are a diverse group in a variety of circumstances. Soon, she joins them as a volunteer, eventually helping to provide abortions to others and becoming politically active. Her discovery of her own body and her agency leads Annie to feel fully in control of her life for the first time. Although this film is a period piece, with the recent overturning of Roe v. Wade, its subject could not be more timely. While it's likely the battles of 50 years ago will have to be fought again, this rousing, warm-hearted film offers encouragement and inspiration.
- Original Language Title: Annie Colère
- Director: Blandine Lenoir
- Principal Cast: Laure Calamy, Zita Hanrot, India Hair
- Country: France
- Year: 2022
- Running Time: 119 min.
- Producer: Nicolas Brevière, Charlotte Vincent
- Screenplay: Blandine Lenoir, Axelle Ropert
- Cinematographers: Céline Bozon
- Editors: Stéphanie Araud
- Music: Bertrand Belin
- Website: Official Film Website
- Filmography: Fifty Springtimes (2017), Zouzou (2012), Dear Abbot (2010)
- Language: French
- Has Subtitles: Yes
- International Sales: Indie Sales