Kino immer anders
In a flat in Brussels (the title is also the address), the widow Jeanne Dielman lives with her son. Whilst he is at school, she cleans the flat, peels potatoes, prepares coffee, makes the bed, goes shopping and engages in sex work in the afternoons to earn a little extra money. Over the course of three days, we observe this routine – until Jeanne Dielman tries to break free from it.
In 2022, Sound & Sight magazine ranked this film number one on its list of the best films of all time. Chantal Akerman spends over three hours showing us nothing but a woman’s daily life and the associated repetitive and alienating household chores. Through a radical aesthetic of the everyday, all the tasks Dielman carries out over the course of a day are given the same significance that is otherwise attributed only to action or love scenes. Long, static shots devoid of much excitement explore the rigid role of women in patriarchal society. Even Jeanne’s attempted act of rebellion offers no liberation from the system.
Jérôme Bewersdorff
