Jeanne Dielman, 23, quai du Commerce, 1080 Bruxelles (1976)
3h 22m | PG-13
A lonely widowed housewife does her daily chores and takes care of her apartment where she lives with her teenage son, and turns the occasional trick to make ends meet. Slowly, her ritualized daily routines begin to fall apart.
Director: Chantal Akerman
Studio: Paradise Films
Genre: Drama
Video: 720p
Cast
Delphine Seyrig
as Jeanne Dielman
Jan Decorte
as Sylvain Dielman
Henri Storck
as 1st Caller
Jacques Doniol-Valcroze
as 2nd Caller
Yves Bical
as 3rd Caller
Chantal Akerman
as Neighbor (voice) (uncredited)
Reviews
Yes, it's 3 hours, but we have to forgive that it's from an era before MTV and the resulting cultural ADD. If I didn't know better, I'd think this was the inspiration for Aronofsky's Academy Award-winning film 'Black Swan (2010). Well, actually, I don't know better. Maybe it was. The premise is similar. Here we become the spectator of one woman's descent into madness. It's kind of riveting in a ghoulish sort or way.
There's a lot of much deeper things to say about this film and what it does and what it means, about the crushing routine of everyday life, about the nature of the worlds we live in, the stories we tell, but for now I just wanna say this movie is incredibly hypnotic and genuinely engaging and passes by far quicker than any movie this long and with this little happening rightly should. Good stuff tbh.