Review of Jeanne Dielman, 23, quai du Commerce, 1080 Bruxelles (1976) by Justin B — 15 Jul 2007

One of the few films which may truly be called "unique." Perhaps one could located its precedents and influences in the stateliness and fixity of Ozu's camera, the lack of emotion in Bresson's actors, and the purposeful longueurs of Antonioni's pacing, but you'd still be nowhere near the soul of this particular work.

It's tempting to just wrap up all its parts within some reductivist framework (is it about female entrapment in a male society? about the horrors of being a single mother with no means of supporting yourself? about the potential pitfalls of routine and ritual?) but it maintains a peculiar power from scene to scene that a simple parable would lack.

No, this is a masterpiece, even if it is one of the least "fun" movies I've ever seen, for the travails of its peculiar protagonist haunt one long after the film is finished. (note: I originally gave this film only 4 1/2 stars, but after seeing it again, I raised the rating to an even 5.

While a particularly keen editor could probably prune about half an hour off of its runtime, doing so would neither help nor harm the film; in other words, given its parameters, it's as good a film as can be, and however chilly and unapproachable its perfection is at times, the film is worthy of all the respect and accolades it has received).