Jeanne Dielman at 40: A still-unmatched film about the realities of womanhood

When monotony speaks louder than words

(Image credit: (YouTube))

It is a testament to how little has changed that Chantal Akerman's Jeanne Dielman, 23, Quai du Commerce, 1080 Bruxelles feels as revolutionary today as it did 40 years ago, when it debuted at Cannes in May of 1975. Directed by a woman and featuring an all-female crew, this rare three-and-a-half hour opus does not use its time to tell a complicated story. Instead, the film uses an exploration of the mundane to offer a rich examination of the complexity of the female experience, one that modern cinema still struggles to represent.

On the most basic level, Jeanne Dielman is the story of a single widow and mother who prostitutes herself to make ends meet and care for her teenage son. This is not done with explosive melodrama, or salacious sexuality, or tear-filled scenes. Jeanne's narrative arc is more like a flat line.

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Monika Bartyzel

Monika Bartyzel is a freelance writer and creator of Girls on Film, a weekly look at femme-centric film news and concerns, now appearing at TheWeek.com. Her work has been published on sites including The Atlantic, Movies.com, Moviefone, Collider, and the now-defunct Cinematical, where she was a lead writer and assignment editor.