The scene then cuts to an unusually framed shot of a truncated Jeanne at the entrance of the apartment as she accepts a hat and coat from an unidentified guest (Henri Storck) before retreating, out of view, into a bedroom at the end of the hallway.Moments later, the obscured image is reconnected to a familiar referential framing of the darkened hallway as the unknown guest re-emerges from the room and prepares to leave, handing Jeanne a pre-arranged sum of money before confirming their next appointment for the following week.
And so Jeannes monotonous daily ritual unfolds through the tedium of household chores, impersonal sexual transactions, trivial errands, and alienated conversations with her son, Sylvain (Jan Decorte), revealing the silent anguish of disconnection and systematic erosion of the human soul. Jeanne Dielman, 23 Quai du Commerce, 1080 Bruxelles is a visually rigorous, uncompromising, and understatedly harrowing portrait of alienation, repression, and marginalization. Using primarily long take, medium shots from the repeated perspective of a stationary camera, Chantal Akerman creates an innately disquieting atmosphere of stasis and monotony. The repeated filmic cued scene transitions associated with the actuation of light switches throughout the apartment further underscore the fragmented nature and dehumanized automation of her domestic tasks. By presenting the controlled and deliberate gestures inherent in Jeannes ritualistic actions that betray an implicit violence beneath the veneer of structure and order - as she bathes (note the similar imagery of cleansing in Michael Hanekes The Seventh Continent), knits, shines shoes (a familiar episode from Akermans short film, Saute ma ville), and peels potatoes - the film provocatively captures the unarticulated tragedy of estrangement, loneliness, and disconnection. Jeanne behaves more like a once rich housewife who now has to do housework for her first time. A boring, frustrating, painful experience of a movie that is also kind of brilliant. A unique film you should check out if youre willing to be bored out of your mind for nearly 3 and a half hours. As the subjugated, enslaved class, they engaged in the preprogrammed routinized, menial labor without which the patriarchy could not be. The entire physical and psycho-emotional substrate of the apparatus of their oppression is entirely dependent upon their daily activities. Women are responsible for all custodial, caretaking tasks in support of male supremacy: cooking, cleaning, education, rearing, procreation, sexual gratification, etc. What is more, the evacuation of autonomy, of personal time, of personal thought, with the burden of near-constant routine action, is a (the) primary modality of patriarchal oppression. I watched it and assumed that this rigid human being would adhere to this routine, even though each subsequent day is slightly (or drastically) different. The film succeeds in making it feel like a routine so thoroughly that the changes that come in the next two days are sharply distinct. ![]() Jeanne seems to be in a state of self-denial, constantly moving, working to keep. Bressonian lampoons of Julia Child cooking shows, a masterpiece of absences, a prisoner polishing the bars of her own cage until a missed hour causes the universe to shift. When this was introduced, we (the audience) were told that if we feel bored, thats entirely by design. I see what he (the presenter) was getting at, and Im sure hes completely correct, but I cant say that I ever felt bored while watching this. Certainly not bored in the way that doing the very activities depicted onscreen (cleaning dishes, making beds, having liaisons with strange and unappealing men) make me feel. A character like this, played with as much subtlety as Delphine Seyrig gives her, presented in this way could not be boring. Theres repetition, monotony, tedium, yes, but theres so much to take in. A film that seems to defy analysis, existing as a multifaceted commentary but mainly just to piss the viewer off, and for that, I kind of love it. Jeanne Dielman, 23, Quai du Commerce 1080 Bruxelles (fuck you for making me write that out FUCK) is a movie that Ive seen regarded as a masterpiece. But this movie is fascinatingits absolutely fucking infuriating, but its fascinating, and its brilliant. Through complete and utter monotony, this movie presents an experience of a woman who is thereuntil she isnt. Edit: Just realized I watched this on international womens day. Seyrig has admitted that before this film shed never before made coffee or breaded a cutlet. And it shows. Women who spend decades doing housework dont have Jeannes hairdo or her delicate hands or the stiffness with which she does chores. Jeanne Dielman Torrent Free Hour InThey dont fret about a free hour in their day, they find something else to do on their never-ending to-do list.
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