Jeanne Dielman (1975)

Essential Viewing

Belgium/France

Feature Film

Original Title: Jeanne Dielman, 23 Quai du Commerce, 1080 Bruxelles

Writer/Director: Chantal Akerman

Cinematographer: Babette Mangolte

Cast: Delphine Seyrig, Jan Decorte

Akerman’s exquisitely composed minimalist exploration of female bourgeois desperation powerfully depicts three days in the life of a widowed Brussels housewife, who sexually services a middle-aged gentleman or two each afternoon in order to make ends meet, following her as she goes about her daily routine of cooking, cleaning, shopping, and looking after her dopey teenaged son. Iain.Stott