Seen at...
Jeanne Dielman, 23 Commerce Quay, 1080 Brussels
Original Title
Jeanne Dielman, 23, quai du commerce, 1080 Bruxelles- Director: Chantal Akerman
- Writer: Chantal Akerman
- Producer: Guy Cavagnac; Alain Dahan; Liliane de Kermadec; Corinne Jénart; Evelyne Paul; Paul Vecchiali
CGiii Comment
200 minutes of mind-numbing monotony? Or, a 200-minute [feminist] masterpiece?
Well, that all depends on which side of the academic fence you find yourself on. The bulk of Chantal Akerman's work is for an acquired taste, for those who like to wiggle their toes in the various pools of cinematic pretension...Jeanne Dielman is no exception.
Call it what you will...an art film, experimental, avant-garde, the original Dogme [that should ruffle a few feathers]...to some, it's all of these. To Joe Public, it's the quintessential film festival film...in other words, it's the one you want to avoid at all costs...because, time and money are precious!
Many have tied themselves in knots explaining why this is a masterpiece and, in so doing, have earned themselves a Masters Degree or even a PhD [in Film Studies or some feminist branch of Sociology]. C'mon, preaching to the converted isn't exactly an achievement...
Sitting through these 200 'masterful' minutes is an achievement...akin to torture.
Trailer...
The(ir) Blurb...
'Akerman's cinema focuses our attention on her smallest gestures, gestures that reveal character but would be lost in a more flamboyant film: a knife that almost slips when a potato is peeled, a light turned off unnecessarily, a facial expression of disquiet or of frustration, the curious act of making coffee in a thermos in the morning for drinking at lunchtime. The effect of such details, repeated and ritualized, is cumulative. Slowly the portrait is pieced together.' Jayne Loader
Cast & Characters
Delphine Seyrig as Jeanne Dielman
Jan Decorte as Sylvain Dielman
Henri Storck as 1st Caller
Jacques Doniol-Valcroze as 2nd Caller
Yves Bical as 3rd Caller
Chantal Akerman as Neighbor (voice) (uncredited)