Jeanne Dielman, 23 quai du Commerce, 1080 Bruxelles
Synopsis
Jeanne is a widow who lives with her son. She supports the household with government's money and prostitution. Throughout over three hours of the movie we witness her mundane life. During these hours, the stealthy, suffocating existence of a woman trapped in her own tragic life is unveiled. It's a difficult, complex cinema. The film, almost immediately after its release, became a cult classic and one of the most important feminist movies.
Review
The film, made in the 1975, is a clever re-telling of Zavattini's (one of the main names in the cinema's neorealism movement) motto ' the ideal film would be a ninety minutes of the life of a man whom nothing happens.' We see Jeanne confined to a space of her apartment, doing everyday housewife chores and serving her son. She seems mechanical and controlling. The movie speaks the loudest in details. Because, on the surface of things, there is nothing unplanned and/or unwanted in Jeanne's life: from the encounters with other people to making a dinner, there is no freedom of casuality.
'The first blow against the monolithic accumulation of traditional film conventions (already undertaken by radical filmmakers) is to free the look of the camera into its materiality in time and space and the look of the audience into dialectics, passionate detachment. There is no doubt that this destroys the satisfaction, pleasure and privilege of the 'invisible guest,' and highlights how film has depended on voyeuristic active/passive mechanisms. Women, whose image has continually been stolen and used for this end, cannot view the decline of the traditional film form with anything much more than sentimental regret.' (source )Akerman's film-making is intentionally avoiding the voyeurism. Static shots, no close-ups, camera fixed on a continually same height, all to make sure the audience 'always knows where I (the director) am'. These formal decisions help in not only stressing out the feminist factor of the project. But also, to support the intensity of the narrative. Strict editing (no fades), no score and a stark mise-en-scene make the disconnected life of Jeanne that much more difficult to watch.
The claustrophobic feel of this woman's daily routine slowly reveals her complete lack of self. Take away the peeling of the potatoes, the groceries shopping and ironing and Jeanne disappears. She holds onto those things so closely because when one day she starts making small mistakes (the burnt dinner, the messy hair), she is left with literally nothing but a threat of facing herself. Realising onself and admitting to the consuming void, seems to be the greatest of fears. It is up to a debate, but many think that her unfolding happens after she, for the first time in her life, experiences climax with one of her clients. If it is true, it adds yet another layer of meaning to the story. Is she rejecting the idea of pleasure or is she not comfortable with her experiencing the pleasure? Is the orgasm unaccaptable because it's so human and not-mechanical; or is it because it means connecting with ones body? From that moment on, the audience knows, the tragedy is close. And even when it arrives, it happens quietly. In the patriarchal system, a woman isn't allowed to experience any extreme feelings. She is deprived of any freedoms. That's why, when Jeanne commits a crime, she is passive, emotionless. She acts like nothing happened. “When she bangs the glass on the table and you think the milk might spill, that’s as dramatic as the murder,” stated Akerman.
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