The push and pull of a Sight and Sound crown: if a film’s greatness becomes received wisdom in ways previously never possible—where even an Alfred Hitchcock movie starring Jimmy Stewart receives new forms of attention—the film itself invariably becomes embalmed, a single object of study before it’s the work of artists who thought heavily, intently, obsessively about how to make it exist.
Most writing, discussion, and scholarship on Jeanne Dielman considers what’s before us: its rigor, subversions, thrills, boredom. About which there’s endless consideration, needless to say. And none of which begins explaining how a 24-year-old Belgian woman, directing her third feature, rewrote entire swaths of cinema history in her image, nearly five decades hence dethroning Citizen Kane and Vertigo from the closest known claim to greatest film ever made.
An answer, or at least some open door, has been there longer than most...
Most writing, discussion, and scholarship on Jeanne Dielman considers what’s before us: its rigor, subversions, thrills, boredom. About which there’s endless consideration, needless to say. And none of which begins explaining how a 24-year-old Belgian woman, directing her third feature, rewrote entire swaths of cinema history in her image, nearly five decades hence dethroning Citizen Kane and Vertigo from the closest known claim to greatest film ever made.
An answer, or at least some open door, has been there longer than most...
- 12/2/2022
- by Nick Newman
- The Film Stage
Jeanne Dielman, 23, quai du Commerce, 1080 Bruxelles is a thriller. It’s as claustrophobic, psychologically penetrating, and exactingly-directed an apartment film as anything Roman Polanski has made. That it takes 200 minutes to watch is almost besides the point. The more you give yourself over to it – shutting out distractions, not breaking it into sections – the tighter its hold. I’ve seen the film three times now, twice at home with all the intrusions that comes with that, and once in a theater with all the peace it suggests. Except, peace for this film means an acute focus on its inner torment.
Jeanne (Delphine Seyrig) is a widow raising her teenage son in a single-bedroom apartment (he sleeps in the pull-out couch in the living room). Over the course of three non-consecutive days, we see Jeanne cook, clean, run errands, knit, read letters, and cook some more (there’s a lot of...
Jeanne (Delphine Seyrig) is a widow raising her teenage son in a single-bedroom apartment (he sleeps in the pull-out couch in the living room). Over the course of three non-consecutive days, we see Jeanne cook, clean, run errands, knit, read letters, and cook some more (there’s a lot of...
- 5/27/2017
- by Scott Nye
- CriterionCast
- Tons of stuff out on DVD worth watching, collecting, seeing for the first time, seeing for a second time and seeing for one time only (Duplicity). We begin with one of the best pictures of the year in Ramin Bahrani's Goodbye Solo (which comes equipped with a commentary track from the filmmaker and cinematographer Michael Simmonds). After bringing out films such as Branded to Kill, Criterion continues their further interest with a 5 film box set from Japan's Nikkatsu Noir period (I'll let their page do the heavy talking). Whit Stillman receives more Cc treatment, this time for his The Last Days of Disco and the one that is definitely worth checking out is Chantal Akerman's Jeanne Dielman, 23, quai du Commerce, 1080 Bruxelles (check out the clip on the Criterion site). The Last Days of Disco New, restored high-definition digital transfer, supervised and approved by director Whit Stillman Audio
- 8/25/2009
- IONCINEMA.com
A scene from Kagemusha
Photo: Criterion Collection Back at the end of March it was sadly announced Akira Kurosawa's Ran would not be able to be release on Criterion Blu-ray due to some sort of a rights issue. This meant Criterion's only May Blu-ray release would be The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, which -- if you read my review -- was fine with me, but I am more interested in old classics rather than the new ones from Criterion and it now appears a Kurosawa gem is taking the place of Ran, with a much better selection if you ask me. A scene from Kagemusha
Photo: Criterion Collection While I am sure most people would rather see Yojimbo, Rashomon, Ikiru or Seven Samurai as the first Criterion Blu-ray, the just announced August 18 release of Kagemusha is fine by me. A scene from Kagemusha
Photo: Criterion Collection Just look...
Photo: Criterion Collection Back at the end of March it was sadly announced Akira Kurosawa's Ran would not be able to be release on Criterion Blu-ray due to some sort of a rights issue. This meant Criterion's only May Blu-ray release would be The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, which -- if you read my review -- was fine with me, but I am more interested in old classics rather than the new ones from Criterion and it now appears a Kurosawa gem is taking the place of Ran, with a much better selection if you ask me. A scene from Kagemusha
Photo: Criterion Collection While I am sure most people would rather see Yojimbo, Rashomon, Ikiru or Seven Samurai as the first Criterion Blu-ray, the just announced August 18 release of Kagemusha is fine by me. A scene from Kagemusha
Photo: Criterion Collection Just look...
- 5/17/2009
- by Brad Brevet
- Rope of Silicon
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