Jeanne Dielman, 23, quai du Commerce, 1080 Bruxelles Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		4.0
Video		4.5
Audio		4.0
Extras		4.0
Overall		4.0

Jeanne Dielman, 23, quai du Commerce, 1080 Bruxelles Blu-ray Movie Review

Woman on the verge of a nervous breakdown.

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman June 22, 2019

The annals of mental health publications are rife with accounts that sexual repression can cause untold psychological trauma, but what about sexual gratification? That’s just one of the rather provocative subtexts in the fascinating but potentially frustrating 1975 film Jeanne Dielman, 23, Quai du Commerce, 1080 Bruxelles. There’s an old aphorism that states that some tiresome activity is “as exciting as watching paint dry”, but some unprepared viewers coming to this film may feel like at least with watching paint dry, there’s some kind of metamorphosis occurring, while Jeanne Dielman, 23, Quai du Commerce, 1080 Bruxelles seems to intentionally wallow in a kind of stasis that is one part Groundhog Day, at least in terms of the same activities being repeated over and over with only minor variations, and one part any film you could name which deals with a woman trapped in some kind of situation that she seems incapable of extricating herself from. Jeanne Dielman, 23, Quai du Commerce, 1080 Bruxelles clocks in at well over three hours, and much of that time is given over to long (often near silent) scenes of Jeanne (Delphine Seyrig) attending to chores around her flat like cooking food, scrubbing her bathtub, folding clothes (in a very exact way), making the bed, sometimes interacting with her adult son Sylvain (Jan Decorte) — and turning the occasional trick with a series of men, which seems to be Jeanne’s sole source of income.

Coming up with a “plot summary” for Jeanne Dielman, 23, Quai du Commerce, 1080 Bruxelles might be thought of as something akin to the inverse of that great old skit on Monty Python where contestants had to summarize Proust in an insanely short amount of time, by which I mean that so many scenes in this film seem to be taking place with little or nothing happening in them (at least on the surface) that any description of any length might seem superfluous. That said, there is obviously subtext galore in this film, though some of it might be thought of as presentational. While writer and director Chantal Anne Akerman (who sadly committed suicide in 2015) states in some supplements included on this disc that one of her aims was to “elevate” the seemingly mundane chores women complete every day, making them almost ritualistic in the film in the process, it certainly can’t be a mistake that several camera angles Akerman chooses (and the camera is almost always stationary in this film) actually feature Jeanne at least partially out of frame, as if to suggest even a film supposedly meant to elucidate the “worth” of day in day out minutiae can’t be bothered to actually aim the lens at the focal subject (see screenshot 15 for just one of many examples of this phenomenon scattered throughout the film). The film supposedly unfolds in (more or less) "real time", over the course of three days (identified with interstitial labels), but even the "difference" in times is negligible, since the same things keep happening repeatedly.

There are a number of other oddities in Akerman's depiction, including what seem to be omnipresent flashing lights which illuminate Jeanne's parlor from beyond her window and which may suggest, albeit subliminally, that there's some kind of police presence indicating danger in the outside world. That "danger" ultimately intrudes inside, with some small but significant signs that, to quote a certain William Butler Yeats, "the center will not hold", and Jeanne is tipping over into something unbalanced. It's also notable how Jeanne is almost always shown with eyes lowered, submitting to not just her "clients" but seemingly to life itself.

One would reasonably think that a film dealing with a middle aged, seemingly relatively well to do, woman prostituting herself might have some prurient interest, but one of the interesting things about Jeanne Dielman, 23, Quai du Commerce, 1080 Bruxelles is that it seems virtually asexual a lot of the time. That perhaps only points out the irony that whatever "plot developments" accrue in this film might be attributed to Jeanne unexpectedly getting a little satisfaction from some bedroom encounters. Akerman's ultimate meaning here may in fact be a little muddled, suggesting that Jeanne can't quite handle the reality of having an orgasm (something Akerman overtly references in an interview), which would seem to be just about the polar opposite of the feminist viewpoint that women need to claim their own power, including their sexual power, joyfully and without guilt.

Jeanne Dielman, 23, quai du Commerce, 1080 Bruxelles Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Jeanne Dielman, 23, Quai du Commerce, 1080 Bruxelles is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of the Criterion Collection with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 1.67:1. Criterion's insert booklet contains the following information on the transfer:

Jeanne Dielman, 23, Quai du Commerce, 1080 Bruxelles is presented in its original aspect ratio of 1.66:1 [sic]. On standard 4:3 televisions, the image will appear letterboxed. On standard and widescreen televisions, black bars may also be visible on the left and right to maintain the proper screen format. Supervised by director Chantal Akerman and cinematographer Babette Mangolte, this new 2K digital restoration was undertaken from a 4K scan made from the 35mm original camera negative by the Cinématheque royale de Belgique.

The monaural soundtrack was remastered from a 35mm sound negative and a 35mm positive print.

Additional color correction: Russell Smith/Criterion Post, New York

With an understanding that huge swaths of this film take place in the rather drab confines of Jeanne's apartment, and so there isn't a ton of traditional visual "pop" involved, this is a strong transfer that preserves both an organic appearance as well as a naturalistic accounting of an often somewhat tamped down palette. Fine detail is quite strong despite some of the blandness of the environment, with elements like the almost brocaded wallpaper in Jeanne's apartment or even the dowdy fabric of a coat she wears offering palpable textures. A number of midrange shots in the kitchen look a tad soft when compared to the bulk of the presentation. There's also a kind of odd second or two very early in the film where what seems to be an intentional "freeze frame" also includes the grain field, which simply "hangs" and stops moving (see screenshot 19), even as the soundtrack continues. There are a few very minor signs of age related wear and tear, including some small nicks and blemishes.

Jeanne Dielman, 23, quai du Commerce, 1080 Bruxelles Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Jeanne Dielman, 23, Quai du Commerce, 1080 Bruxelles features an LPCM Mono track in the original French. As indicated above, large sections of this film play out with nary a word of dialogue, accompanied only by occasional ambient environmental sounds in Jeanne's apartment, like the boiling of water or rustle of fabrics as she does her laundry. When the film finally ventures outside well past the one hour mark, there's almost a palpable sense of relief, and a few more naturalistic sounds finally populate the soundtrack. What little dialogue there is is presented cleanly and clearly, and there are no problems of any kind to report.

Jeanne Dielman, 23, quai du Commerce, 1080 Bruxelles Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Autour de "Jeanne Dielman" (1080i; 1:08:47) is a fascinating archival documentary charting the production and filming, and offering ample evidence that the shoot was fraught with friction, as Akerman freely addresses in her interview (below). In black and white and sourced from what looks like slightly problematic video. In French with English subtitles.


• Chantal Akerman: On Jeanne Dielman (1080i; 20:20) is a really engaging piece from 2005 with Akerman talking about her introduction to Godard and experimental filmmaking and what she hoped to achieve with this film. In French with English subtitles.


• Chantal Akerman: On Filmmaking (1080i; 17:04) is an older archival piece from 1997 culled from a French television show called Cinema de Notre Temps , which had an episode devoted to Akerman. In French with English subtitles.


• Chantal Akerman and Delphine Seyrig (1080i; 6:51) is sourced from another French television show, a 1976 interview offering called Les rendez-vous du dimanche, which has some almost hilarious green screen "effects". In French with English subtitles.


• Babette Mangolt (1080i; 22:41) is an interview with the film's cinematographer conducted in 2009.


• Natalia Akerman (1080i; 28:14) is a kind of interesting 2007 piece with (an off camera) Chantal interviewing her mother. In French with English subtitles.


• Saute ma ville (1080p; 13:01) is a 1968 short by Akerman. This includes an Introduction (1080i; 1:20) by Akerman which can be accessed separately. In French with English subtitles.

Jeanne Dielman, 23, quai du Commerce, 1080 Bruxelles Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Jeanne Dielman, 23, Quai du Commerce, 1080 Bruxelles is probably going to be one of those films that will either appeal to cineastes, or frankly perhaps repel them. The repetitiveness of the "action" is obviously part and parcel of what Akerman is trying to convey with regard to Jeanne's personal life, but it can also be a bit of a slog to watch, and I therefore wonder how much "repeat viewing" this film may engender, even among diehard fans. Still, this is a fascinating piece from any number of angles (figuratively and literally, given Akerman's often odd framing choices), and habitues of Art House cinema will almost certainly want to check it out. Technical merits are strong, and the supplementary material insightful and enjoyable. Recommended.