Jeanne Dielman, 23 Quai du Commerce, 1080 Bruxelles (1975)

A lonely widowed housewife does her daily chores, takes care of her apartment where she lives with her teenage son, and turns the occasional trick to make ends meet. However, something happens that changes her safe routine.

Director:

Chantal Akerman

Writer:

Chantal Akerman

Stars:

Delphine Seyrig, Jan Decorte, Henri Storck

Cast

Complete credited cast:
Delphine Seyrig	...	Jeanne Dielman
Jan Decorte	...	Sylvain Dielman
Henri Storck	...	1st Caller
Jacques Doniol-Valcroze	...	2nd Caller
Yves Bical	...	3rd Caller

Storyline

Jeanne Dielman, a lonely young widow, lives with her son Sylvain following an immutable order: while the boy is in school, she cares for their apartment, does chores, and receives clients in the afternoon.

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Plot Keywords:

son | widow | loneliness | meat loaf | avant garde | 

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Genres:

Drama

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Certificate:

Not Rated

Details

Country:

Belgium France

Language:

French

Release Date:

21 January 1976 (France)

Also Known As:

Jeanne Dielman, 1080 Brüsszel, Kereskedő utca 23.

Filming Locations:

Brussels, Brussels-Capital, Belgium

Company Credits

Production Co:

Ministère de la Culture Française de Belgique, Paradise Films, Unité Trois

Technical Specs

Runtime:

201 min 201 min (Buenos Aires Festival Internacional de Cine Independiente)

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.66 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Festival selections: Edinburgh International Film Festival (1975, 1976 and 1979), Locarno Film Festival (1975), Regus London Film Festival (November 1975), International Film Festival of India (New Delhi, January 1979), Berlin International Film Festival (June 1975), Sydney Film Festival (1976).

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Goofs

Kitchen chair disappears, reappears, disappears, reappears...

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Quotes

[repeated lines]
Jeanne Dielman: Don't read and eat!

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Connections

References The Stepford Wives (1975)

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Soundtracks

"Bagatelle for Piano"
Composed by Ludwig van Beethoven

User Reviews

Not like the others

This movie is deliberately different, all in the service of telling us something we didn't know.

Movies are about movies. The borrow plot, character, lighting, sound editing and camera angles from what went before. Since "Birth of a Nation" introduced close-ups, cross cutting and cutaways in 1915 everyone has adopted that vocabulary for story telling. This movie throws all that out: The camera is fixed and stares at a scene for a very long time. Scenes had to be performed all the way through when they were filmed, because each was done in a single shot.

Movies use telescoping of time to compress the happenings of a long period into two hours. This movie tries to avoid that, depicting mundane tasks in their entirety. We watch Jeanne Dielman prepare a meatloaf, step by step, wash the dishes (her back is to us!), smooth the bed, or go shopping.

Movie use facial expressions to express feelings. Spoiler alert: When we get strong facial expressions from Jeanne Dielman there is a very good reason. And that only happens once in a three-hour, 21 minute film.

Movies use broad strokes to carry the audience along. Spiderman supplements explosions with 3D to keep me occupied. By contrast, this film uses subtle changes. You must watch closely to see what happens.

Most movies come to you. This movie requires you go to it. If there is dullness it is among those viewers who think that because they don't get something it's not there to get. There is plenty here but instead of being served to you it has to be harvested. And it is very fresh.