Je Tu Il Elle (1974)

'Je' is a girl voluntarily lock up in a room. 'Tu' is the script. 'Il' is a lorry driver. 'Elle' is the girlfriend.

Director:

Chantal Akerman

Writers:

Chantal Akerman, Eric De Kuyper

Stars:

Chantal Akerman, Niels Arestrup, Claire Wauthion

Cast

Credited cast:
Chantal Akerman	...	Julie
Niels Arestrup	...	Truck-driver
Claire Wauthion	...	Girlfriend

Storyline

For more than a month, eating only powered sugar, a woman tries to deal with a breakup: she paints her room twice, removes the furniture, writes and rewrites a letter to her lover, clarifying all she had said. She spreads the pages on the floor. She lies down and waits. Finally, her sugar eaten, she is hungry and leaves. She flags down a truck; she and the trucker drive through the dark, stopping at a diner and bars. He asks for a hand job, she complies. He talks about his wife, children, and sex life. She arrives at the flat of her lover, a woman, who tells her she cannot stay. She says she is hungry, so her lover feeds her then allows her to stay the night. They make love.

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Plot Keywords:

triple f rated | female protagonist | feminist film | f rated | lesbian sex | 

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Genres:

Drama

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Details

Official Sites:

World Artists

Country:

France Belgium

Language:

French

Release Date:

27 December 1985 (USA)

Also Known As:

I, You, He, She

Company Credits

Production Co:

French Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Paradise Films

Technical Specs

Runtime:

86 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Did You Know?

Quotes

Julie: When I looked up suddenly... there were people walking in the street. I spilled all the sugar on the letters on the floor... and lay down again... and waited. I waited some more for it to pass or for something to happen - for me to believe in God or for you to send gloves for the cold.

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Connections

Featured in Fabulous! The Story of Queer Cinema (2006)

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Soundtracks

Nous n'irons plus au bois
(uncredited)
Traditional French
Lyrics by Madame du Pompadour
Music from the Gregorian 'Kyrie' of the "Mass of the Angels"

User Reviews

OK. It was certainly interesting.

Having been interested in avant-garde cinema for about 50 years, I could see myself with my friends back in college, parsing something like this. This was the time of an eight hour film of a man sleeping. Every hour or so he would turn over or readjust his pillow. I suppose this lays a foundation for a filmmaker to eventually break from this into something with some sense. This film about a girl who spends a week eating powdered sugar, painting her apartment, and moving her mattress around probably does something for someone. She also poses in the nude, inviting voyeurism, which, I suppose we can only guess at. The other two thirds of the film, a meeting with a blue collar worker to watch a gangster movie, and a lesbian love scene, hang on for what seems like hours. Anyway, I haven't anything to contribute other than the final love scene reminded me of a film about insects, where a wasp struggles with an insect of equal size, grasps him and stings him until he is dead. There is endless convulsing, short moments of relaxation and exhaustion, and, finally, the coup de grace.