Jeanne Dielman, 23, quai du commerce, 1080 Bruxelles (1975)

Directed by: Chantal Akerman | 202 minutes | drama | Actors: Delphine Seyrig, Jan Decorte, Henri Storck, Jacques Doniol-Valcroze, Yves Bical

Is ‘Jeanne Dielman’ a factual description of a fear of contamination? Many viewers might think that in advance and even repel it. Jeanne Dielman (the versatile Seyrig) is a Brussels housewife with a son living at home, a baby in need of care and a side income from home prostitution. Of the latter we see little but the scant evidence; most of the movie is spent peeling potatoes, cleaning the tub, doing the dishes – and so on.

However, Akerman does so with such an eye for detail and timing that it is going to hurt. Every action makes more of an impression, and that while at the beginning you still think: this is a character introduction. No, this is Jeanne’s unpretentious life. Every now and then a man comes by for sex, there is little talk. It is not resigned acceptance either, Jeanne is a proud woman, taken care of down to the last detail. Survival is also an art of living, and we see it before us.

Is the film finished after 1.5 hours? Again no: Akerman continues, and again not without reason. The staging shifts from the claustrophobic apartment to the outside. We follow Jeanne up the street. What is she going to do? Walk with the same straight back as she kneads the minced meat at home or stirs her glass of tea. She runs errands, my god, think of something fun like social contact outside the door.

Again the same attention to detail. What do we see, without much being explained? Jeanne is a woman with a respectable life for the outside world, she earns her own living. Nobody knows how, nobody wonders, spiritual devastation is her part. She bears her fate. But worthy it is, and who are we to judge whether it is good or evil? Akerman doesn’t. With a surprising settlement, that is. A relief, somehow.