Review of Jeanne Dielman, 23, quai du Commerce, 1080 Bruxelles (1976) by Ben W — 08 Feb 2010

Um....theres no way to describe jeanne dielman really because there are a thousand ways to describe it and all of them would be right but still inaccurate. chantal akerman crafts an almost 3 and a half hour film of fabulously long takes will bore you out of your mind.

yes, this is not a film that I would watch once a week. it will bore you to tears while keeping you riveted. a veritable film of the most extreme contradiction. the character jeanne dielman is a widow set in a very strict routine, caring for her son, cleaning, cooking, and knitting literally all day long (aside from turning her daily trick).

we are constantly outside the world of these characters. it could be argued that the title to the film gives us more information than the rest of the film does even with its run time. we spend 3 days with jeanne as she goes about her prescribed pattern.

if you are a keen viewer you will notice the small fluctuations early on. but at a certain point it becomes clear that through all the utterly uninteresting behavior going on in the film there is an inescapable foreboding.

peeling potatoes, the missed button on her gown, a dropped spoon: all these insignificant details are shatteringly violent to the viewer.