In 1974, a worker played by Laure Calamy wanted an abortion.
She joined the MLAC (Movement for the Freedom of Abortion and Contraception) which helps women in her situation.
In "Anger Annie", Blandine Lenoir gives voice to forgotten activists.
Have you heard of the MLAC (Movement for Abortion and Contraception Freedom)?
Nope ?
"It's normal," says Blandine Lenoir, the director of
Annie Colère
, discovered at the Angoulême Francophone Film Festival.
Supported by Laure Calamy in the title role, she revives this forgotten organization, founded in 1973, two years before the adoption of the Veil law which legalized abortion.
“The MLAC disappeared from the radar because this organization did not have a charismatic central figure, confides the filmmaker to 20 Minutes.
Simone Veil did not do everything alone: these women paved the way for her and it was time to pay tribute to them.
Its co-screenwriter Axelle Ropert (who directed, among other things, the excellent
Petite Solange
) and they relied on a thesis by Lucille Ruault to build this fascinating film.
A feminist film and proud of it
Former activists came to give them advice, particularly for the abortion scenes.
“I wanted these sequences to be soft, insists Blandine Lenoir.
I find that the sequences of abortions are shown too horribly in the cinema.
It is a way of stigmatizing an act that is received as a relief by women.
This is particularly the case for the working heroine and mother of a family who will fully engage in the fight for women's rights.
Annie Colère
is a feminist film and proud of it.
“The right to abortion is fragile, even in France, specifies Blandine Lenoir.
More and more doctors are making use of the conscience clause and the medical desertification in certain regions does not facilitate access to abortion.
The filmmaker nevertheless wants to be optimistic for the future.
“Feminism has lost a generation, she explains, the one who took advantage of these rights without having to fight to obtain them!
But young people are dynamic and they will not allow themselves to be dispossessed.
It's reassuring.
»
This combative force rubs off on
Annie Colère
, galvanizing her with a very energizing positive energy.
"I wanted to make a popular film for women, of course, but also for men who seem to me to be equally concerned", insists Blandine Lenoir.
Annie's anger has crossed the decades to touch deep in the heart
today's audience.
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