It’s about time. We tackle Chantal Akerman’s Sight and Sound topping Jeanne Dielman, and begin our series on her singular career. Ben introduces Akerman’s career, spotlighting her fierce conviction and crystalline vision, Eli loops in a melodramatic reading, and Wilson zeroes in on an ending that explosively caps off a 3.5h opus. And if you’re struggling with how to approach this film, as entertainment or as art, just remember: it’s about time.

Links:

Behinds the scenes of Jeanne Dielman

Slant magazine interview 

Article on Akerman 

Wilson’s Letterboxd review

Stephen Gillespie’s Letterboxd review

Angelica Jade Bastien on Longlegs

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Timestamps:

00:00:00 Intro

00:03:03 General reactions

00:13:26 The S&S list

00:16:24 Akerman's career

00:23:45 Plot summary and structure

00:29:20 Cinematography and spatial representation

00:32:14 Depictions of women and melodrama

00:34:35 How Akerman directs Seyrig

00:37:53 Everything is "real"

00:39:10 Time

00:42:14 Patterning

00:46:40 What triggers the breakdown

00:50:16 Relationship between mother/son

00:57:18 Rituals

00:59:24 The movie exists as many things

01:00:25 It's place as #1 film

01:04:10 Akerman's conviction and vision

01:07:43 Scene dissections

01:13:04 Exterior scenes

01:16:47 Existential crisis

01:19:12 In conversation with cinema and larger culture

01:21:56 Ending

01:30:36 Outro