Sight and Sound (2002) Greatest Films Club - Page 77

glen_esq · 09-08-2004, 01:51 AM

Jeanne Dielman (Akerman, 1976) Zero stars
I'd been wanting to see this for a couple of years now, my goodness how disappointing. An experimental art film, with a feminist underpinning, it's an experiment whose results didn't work for me.

Clocking in at almost 3 and half hours, I had plenty of time to think about it, Jeanne Dielman is easily the most boring film I've ever seen.

Akerman shows us a 40ish woman who is a one-customer-a-day prostitute, and single mother. Isolated, disconnected from those around her, she compensates by being mired in routine and housework. As are we, scene after scene of washing dishes, preparing meals, setting the table, polishing shoes, tidying up.

Typical scene - a static camera, long shot of the room, the woman (Delphine Seyrig) alone in the room washing dishes.

Over. Three. Hours. Of. This.

We view a few days in this woman's life, by the last day it's apparent all is not well - the woman loses her concentration dropping cutlery, messing up preparing dinner for her and her son. We watch the woman stare vacantly off into space.

The woman never vocalizes her disquiet, the film reaches us at an emotional level - Akerman is commenting I suppose not only about this particular woman, but protesting the fate of women's role in western society, and showing us the shortcomings of our modern way of life.

I thought of two directors while watching this movie - Kiarostami, whose films also try to hit us at a subtle, emotional level (and whose movies I like). Would be interesting to know if he attributes any of his style to this movie. The camera work in Jeanne Dielman reminiscent of Ozu - long shots and takes of rooms and hallways with a static camera, people walk in and out of the frame, the camera doesn't follow them. In Jeanne Dielman the static camera helps emphasize the banality of this woman's existence.

A quick search online found nothing but praise for the film. Not from me, blech. I think I got the message of the film, but was so wearied by film's end, the movie lost its power to move me the way I've read critics say it moved them.

Four votes as one of the greatest films of all time in the 2002 S & S poll, three votes in the 1992 poll.

Pascal A · 09-08-2004, 11:41 AM

My personal experience with respect to Chantal Akerman's films (except for News from Home which I immediately connected with for personal reasons) has always been that I leave the film neither impressed nor unimpressed, but that, in the days after, I find myself thinking about the images and ideas constantly...they essentially begin to haunt me. It's for this reason that I have developed a great fondness towards her cinema, not because they will immediately "wow" me, but because they stay with me (I think that it also helps to see her films not only cumulatively, but multiple times over a period of years). Jeanne Dielman, 23 Quai du Commerce, 1080 Bruxelles operates with the intrinsic idea of dislocation, that perturbations from routine are manifestations of crisis, so to me, it's essentially to show the monotony in order to detect the perturbation.

Anyway, I'm not saying that you'll necessarily feel the same way after some distance and reflection (and maybe a few other Akerman films), but I do think that Akerman is one of those truly unique filmmakers whose first impressions will not necessarily be overwhelming, but nevertheless indelible. Of course, if you're in tune to her themes of dislocation and exile (I'm an immigrant so I resonate with them particularly), it can be a truly moving experience...but in hindsight.

glen_esq · 09-08-2004, 05:31 PM

MikeRR - belated welcome aboard, looking forward to reading your posts.

glen_esq · 09-08-2004, 05:57 PM

Pascal - that was nice of you to reply re. Jeanne Dielman. We're going to disagree on this one I think.

Quote:

that perturbations from routine are manifestations of crisis, so to me, it's essentially to show the monotony in order to detect the perturbation.

Akerman's approach here amused and annoyed me. I don't find it very interesting film making to expect the viewer, after watching hours of monotonous housework, to care much that Jeanne misses doing up a button on her dress, or drops a spoon. It highlights to me how dull the whole exercise is when after hours of monotony, Akerman rewards us by showing Jeanne wash a dish over again, signifying mental distraction/anguish on Jeanne's part.

A movie coming back into our thoughts days after viewing can indeed be powerful stuff, I agree. Unfortunately with this film it's quite likely to be thoughts of Jeanne cleaning her bathtub.

george kaplan · 09-10-2004, 04:30 PM

The Piano

I think Lew and Brook may want to rethink their negative attitudes towards this movie, because I feel the same way, and that's a triangle almost as bad as the one in this movie.

Although one could have fun making fun of some of the symbolism in this film (if one didn't actually have to watch it), the "idea" of a sexually repressed man "castrating" his cheating wife by cutting off her finger so she can't get off by fondling her piano is more interesting to write than it is to watch.

A film that embarasses all of the other bad chick flicks on this list by being even worse.

183 watched
153 left

Lew Crippen · 09-10-2004, 04:53 PM

I thought that Brook liked the movie—it was me that gave it the bad reviews.

Brook K · 09-10-2004, 05:30 PM

Nope, I didn't like it either.

Wings of Desire arrived from Netflix today. I also still need to write something about Orphee.

george kaplan · 09-10-2004, 07:31 PM

I don't remember Brook ever finishing it. It seemed like he could never get through it with multiple tries.

Jim_K · 09-11-2004, 08:33 PM

I Vitelloni

Boy what a disappointment after reading this inspired Scorsese’s Mean Streets. A must see I guess if you’re a huge fan of the slacker sub genre or are a Fellini completest. Looks like 8 ½ will remain the best film I've seen from Fellini.

October

Another visually stunning, yet empty propaganda/museum piece from Eisenstein. Save your time & watch the much more entertaining Alexander Nevsky instead.

Brook K · 09-12-2004, 03:53 AM

No, just like with Blade Runner I had previously made attempts to see the Piano and failed to make it through, but I watched it all for the challenge.

#261 Orphee

Mirrors are the doors through which death comes and goes. Look at yourself in a mirror all your life and you'll see death do its work.

Jean Cocteau's modernist translation of the Orphic myth is a visual treat and a sometimes fascinating motorcycle ride into the imagination of an artist. The Orphic myth is used to illustrate the connection between life and death that we all share; as well as the capacity to create our own tragedies through our yearnings for something beyond the simple and mundane.

As with each of the "Orphic Trilogy" films, the camerawork is inventive and sometimes astonishing. A film of mood and expression, rather than storytelling, it takes a rather melancholy view of the place of the artist in our world. Art can easily become an obsession that causes the artist to lose interest in daily matters. No matter how bright one's artistic light shines, there is always a new practioner ready to replace you. Time brings a long line of "greats" and "geniuses" destined for rejection and reinterpretation by future generations. And yet even knowing that one's fate might be a dusty library shelf, the artist remains driven to create.

The film also is a disturbing predictor of the events of '68. B+

Jean Cocteau Films

1. The Testament Of Orpheus - B+
2. Orphee - B+
3. Beauty And The Beast - B
4. Blood Of A Poet - B-