Jeanne Dielman, 23, quai du commerce, 1080 Bruxelles

by Catherine Fowler

Catherine Fowler's study positions Jeanne Dielman as a 'contrary' classic, its contrariness arising from director Chantal Akerman's decision to frame an unliberated housewife through a kind of 'slow looking'. By choosing to stay with Jeanne in the kitchen, the film both 'differences' the canon and diverges from Akerman's liberated early films, which involved the rejection of domestic space, married life and the heterosexual script.

Fowler draws on original footage, scripts, unmade and unseen projects, interviews and other documents to painstakingly piece together the making of the film, discovering an alternative origin story which centers upon female alliances, forged through a combination of shared film culture and lived sexism. Those viewers who take up Akerman's invitation to spend time with Jeanne will find their expectations of cinema are changed. Because more than any other film before or since, it reminds us that we give our time to a film; and in making us look both harder and for longer it asks us to feel time slipping away, for ourselves as much as for its protagonist.

Genres: Film

96 pages, Paperback

Published January 13, 2022

Reviews

[grace g · Rating 3 out of 5]

sometimes film scholars do wayyyy too much, like i doubt delphine seyrig breathing while peeling potatoes has anything to do with the extra-textual aspect of the film. sometimes a girls gotta sigh. otherwise, very well researched insight into ackerman, the project of the film itself, and the movements it was surrounded by. if you have the time and are a dielmanhead like me, definitely worth a read.

[Stella · Rating 4 out of 5]

Insightful and engaging

[Harrison]

I read this book in Wagamama’s after watching the film in the British film institute. I love BFI for prohibiting popcorn in the cinema, it means my misophonia can just lock on to the guy sipping beer next to me. It was quite ironic how I was sandwiched between two blokes sipping beer (I was also sipping beer) whilst watching, in my opinion, THE feminist film.

It’s 202 minutes long btw. My beer lasted 3 minutes.

I picked up this book in the BFI shop prior to having watched the film, also known as my favourite shop in the world (I haven’t been in the criterion closet yet…). I was gifted a free meal at Wagamama’s so walked the Southbank to find one. Read half of the book, spilling only a third of my tonkotsu on page 6. Looked up from my ramen and realised my Aunt and cousin had been sitting next to me for 40 minutes and I hadn’t realised. Told my aunt the premise of the film and she looked at me like I was an alien. My 9 year old cousin overheard me share the premise of the film and she looked at me with understanding and compassion.

Cool book, better film. Film professors analyse way too much and all this mise-en-scene talk gets on my nerves.

[igor farias · Rating 3 out of 5]

O livro é bastante informativo no que diz respeito à trajetória da Chantal Akerman e da Delphine Seyrig até a produção do "Jeanne Dielman", delineando bem a convergência cultural que resultou no filme, mas a análise da obra deixa a desejar

[ADDVIOLENCE]

We come on the sloop Jeanne D...
Chantal Akerman is a lot like me.

[Zoe · Rating 4 out of 5]

7.5/10.