The March edition of Sidewalk Film 101 is Chantal Akerman’s Jeanne Dielman, 23, Quai du Commerce, 1080 Bruxelles (1975). You have never seen anything else like Jeanne Dielman because there have been no other films quite like Jeanne Dielman: it’s 200 minutes long, with minimal dialogue and no soundtrack, and a strict focus on all the mundane details of a Belgian woman’s domestic chores over anything resembling a traditional narrative. All the same, Jeanne Dielman is entirely gripping. We follow the title character over three days of her strict routine, as Jeanne cooks, cleans, shops, and makes money by a different man each day paying her for sex. Played hauntingly by Delphine Seyrig, Jeanne remains kept at a distance, a mystery to us; we are asked to contemplate the inner life of this inscrutable woman by focusing on the tiny details of her behavior, and we watch as the slightest deviations from her typically tidy existence suggest a tumultuous world within.
The film’s director, Chantal Akerman, was 24 years old when she directed Jeanne Dielman, working with an almost entirely female crew. Seyrig was well-acquainted with radical art cinema, having previously been featured in several films by Luis Bunuel and Alain Resnais, yet her work in this young filmmaker’s film debatably becomes her signature role. Though received with mixed responses upon its initial release, Jeanne Dielman received much more praise over the years, with a younger generation of artistically daring filmmakers — including Gus Van Sant and Todd Haynes — drawing inspiration from Akerman’s formal rigor. Jeanne Dielman reached the summit of acclaim in 2022 when it was named the greatest film of all time in the prestigious film journal Sight & Sound’s critics’ poll. Released every 10 years, previous editions of the poll ranked Bicycle Thieves, Citizen Kane and Vertigo at the top; to say Jeanne Dielman is quite unlike those films is an understatement, as you will see.
Before you join us for Jeanne Dielman on Thursday, March 19 at 7 p.m., or Sunday, March 22, at 1 p.m., check out these links to some supplementary reading on the film, its placement in the 2022 Sight & Sound poll, and its legacy as a feminist classic:
- The Criterion Collection essay on Jeanne Dielman: https://www.criterion.com/current/posts/1215-a-matter-of-time-jeanne-dielman-23-quai-du-commerce-1080-bruxelles
- The great Laura Mulvey writes for Sight & Sound about Jeanne Dielman’s historic poll ranking: https://www.bfi.org.uk/sight-and-sound/features/greatest-film-all-time-jeanne-dielman-23-quai-du-commerce-1080-bruxelles
- Also from Sight & Sound, a primer on Akerman and the common themes across her films: https://www.bfi.org.uk/sight-and-sound/features/chantal-akerman-primer
- And from The Yale Review, an exploration of the feminist characteristics in Akerman’s filmmaking, with a particular focus on Jeanne Dielman.
Join us at either of our Sidewalk Film 101 screenings for a special intro by the Sidewalk Cinema programming director, Corey Craft, before the film. We hope to see you there!
Get tickets to our Sidewalk Film 101 screenings of Jeanne Dielman here.