18 July 09
JEANNE DIELMAN, 23 QUAI DU COMMERCE, 1080 BRUXELLES - Chantal Akerman - 1976 - Film Fest #02
A bizarre, baffling, absurd, hypnotizing and most fascinating cinema experience. At 201 minutes, this debut by 25 year-old Akerman shows infinite (well not quite infinite, but it sure feels like infinite) patience while dissecting the life of the title character. Not a lot of narrative exactly: near the end when Jeanne drops a spoon, the event becomes infused with incredible dramatic tension. By the last hour, I felt this could have run for eight hours and I would still be entranced.
