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Jeanne Dielman, 23 Quai du Commerce, 1080 Bruxelles (1975)

Director: Chantal Anne Akerman

5

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2 reviews

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From Time Out New York

Who wants to see an avant-garde feminist masterpiece, other than feminists and the avant-garde? You should. Chantal Akerman’s 1975 movie is still massively important, albeit shown mainly on college campuses and discussed almost exclusively among cinephiles. But don’t be spooked by the daunting length, the formalist mise-en-scène, or the fact that great chunks of screen time are devoted to potato peeling and dish washing. Jeanne Dielman is immersion cinema, a brilliant example of maximal minimalism that fuses viewer with subject so profoundly, the marathon experience transcends simple spectatorship.

Two and a half days pass in the life of a Belgian widow (Seyrig), who methodically fixes meals, cleans the house, tends to her teenage son (Decorte), goes on errands—oh, and whores herself in the afternoons. Sure, the film’s cinematic strategies, gender agenda and postwar condemnation of petite bourgeoisie forever tether it to the Me Decade. But Jeanne Dielman is far more than a political screed; its statements about the human condition, about its fears and its frailties and its veneer of convention over a cauldron of regret and self-denial, are as universal and timeless as Greek tragedy.

Jeanne Dielman plays like a slow-motion thriller. After all the stylized repetition of chores, a sudsy plate or a dropped knife is enough to chill the blood. Life is maintenance, and that maintenance is a form of both preservation and asphyxiation. It’s the menial tasks and ritual errands that shield the soul from existential crisis, but they can also form the wall that prevents emotional engagement. And Jeanne Dielman’s quiet desperation will speak volumes to every new generation—as long as they’re willing to watch.

Author: Stephen Garrett 2009-01-20 19:22:53

Time Out New York Issue 695: January 22 - 28 2009

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User reviews of this film

  • pat said...
    Posted on Feb 17 2009 13:11 In which theater can we see this movie???!!!
    Report as inappropriate
  • John Lucas Fuller said...
    Posted on Jan 27 2009 09:47 Apparently I'm the only person who thinks this film is unbearable. I have read nothing but glowing reviews of it, and for this reason I guess I was expecting something...well, I guess the word "better" somehow doesn't even apply here. First of all, I just want to say that the film has merits. Visually, it has uniform elegance and a very convincing pace. The performances of the actors are exactly what they needed to be. And, in a way, the film was everything it needed to be...to be what it was. The problem, in my mind, is that "what it was" was very pretentious and contrived. The director's agenda was so painfully transparent that I just couldn't get anything out of it. Repetition, repetition, repetition, and then the facade begins to crack. One of the problems is that, going into it, I knew what to expect. I'd read several reviews, and I already knew what the filmmaker was going for. But never in my life have I experienced such a deflating effect of knowing what to expect. It wasn't just that I knew what was going to happen. I saw one screen shot from the film before going into it and I knew exactly the way everything was going to look from start to finish. The basic premise of repetition falling apart and giving way to psychological distress was ALL THAT HAPPENED. It's really the only film I've ever seen that I feel was unnecessary to see after reading about. I was very surprised how highly esteemed and important this film is considered. I've seen a lot of films, and this one really seemed cliched, contrived, and "arty" to such an obvious degree. The fact that people love it baffles me and makes me wonder about their own abilities to "think outside the box" if seeing something like this seems so refreshing and new.
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Jeanne Dielman, 23 Quai du Commerce, 1080 Bruxelles

Cast & crew

Director: Chantal Anne Akerman

Producer: Evelyne Paul, Corinne Jenart

Cast: Delphine Seyrig, Jan Decorte, Henri Storck, Jacques Doniol-Valcroze, Yves Bical full cast

Rated: NR

Duration: 201 mins

US Release: Jan 21 1976


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