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

[Scottie]

A singular work in film history, Chantal Akerman’s Jeanne Dielman, 23, quai du Commerce, 1080 Bruxelles meticulously details, with a sense of impending doom, the daily routine of a middle-aged widow (Delphine Seyrig)—whose chores include making the beds, cooking dinner for her son, and turning the occasional trick. In its enormous spareness, Akerman’s film seems simple, but it encompasses an entire world. Whether seen as an exacting character study or one of cinema’s most hypnotic and complete depictions of space and time, Jeanne Dielman is an astonishing, compelling movie experiment, one that has been analyzed and argued over for decades.

New 2K digital restoration undertaken by the Royal Belgian Film Archive, supervised by director of photography Babette Mangolte, with uncompressed monaural soundtrack on the Blu-ray
Autour de “Jeanne Dielman,” a 69-minute documentary—shot by actor Sami Frey and edited by Agnes Ravez and director Chantal Akerman—made during the filming of Jeanne Dielman
Interviews from 2009 with Akerman and Mangolte
Excerpt from “Chantal Akerman par Chantal Akerman,” a 1997 episode of the French television program Cinéma de notre temps
Interview from 2007 with Akerman’s mother, Natalia
Excerpt from a 1976 television interview featuring Akerman and actor Delphine Seyrig
Saute ma ville (1968), Akerman’s first film, with an introduction by the director
PLUS: A booklet featuring an essay by film scholar Ivone Margulies

https://www.criterion.com/films/302-...1080-bruxelles

[jsz1002]

All of this on one disc? Hopefully no compression problems.

Sent from my Moto G (4) using Tapatalk

[AaronJ]

Mine.

I've wanted to see this for a long time.

[PowellPressburger]

I've been wishing for this Blu-Ray since the DVD was announced and sadly wasn't given a BLU day and date with the DVD I'm sure because of contractural reasons at that time.

Please let the movie not have any compression issues, they can compress the bonus features to death for all I care haha, but seriously I could watch this movie over and over. It's the longest movie that IMO feels short and it is just mesmerizing.

[Mothravka]

Yes! Yes! Yes!

One of my favourite movies of all time. I have owned the Criterion DVD for several years, so a Blu-ray is amazing news. The last time I rewatched it was just in December last year, then came the hint in the drawing and now the Blu-ray is already announced. Pure bliss.

[malakaheso]

It's a very good film, but I don't think it's quite as simple or as complex as it is often made out to be, strangely enough. In Akerman's defense, the kind of ideas she was exploring in Dielman were at least fresh and relevant to their time, unlike films made later that had a few similar ideas like Haneke's The Seventh Continent, for example. and she was very young when she made it too.

[javi92]

This is among my most wanted upgrades, so day 1 for sure. Criterion really knocked it out of the park this month.

[SammyJankis]

I saw this for the first time in a theater in Ghent a week after Akerman's passing. The person introducing the film really laid on the hyperbole, comparing her work to the great masters. I distinctly recall my friend giving me a look right before the lights dimmed, as if he was full of it and there's no way this film can live up to that hype.

He ended up underrating it.

[Lutz]

Originally Posted by malakaheso

It's a very good film, but I don't think it's quite as simple or as complex as it is often made out to be, strangely enough. In Akerman's defense, the kind of ideas she was exploring in Dielman were at least fresh and relevant to their time, unlike films made later that had a few similar ideas like Haneke's The Seventh Continent, for example. and she was very young when she made it too.

The other auteur here is Seyrig who escalates the movie way beyond anything Akerman could have achieved on her own. I still hold that the ending was completely misjudged. You can tell how badly by the fact that if you remove

[Show spoiler]the scene where she kills her client

the final scene where she sits alone in her apartment would still have the same impact and gravity. It's a completely false note in a good movie designed to add some conflict to the end where in reality people just go on and on.

As kind of a Rosetta stone to this movie I always tell people to watch DAUGHTERS OF DARKNESS first. It's the complete opposite of her DIELMAN role and a great way to translate what Seyrig does with her performance here. Follow that with her supporting roles in STOLEN KISSES, THE DISCREET OF THE BOURGEOISIE, DONKEY SKIN. After watching those movies DIELMAN, LAST YEAR AT MARIENBAD, INDIA SONG, all flow as a comedy of manners.

[oubukibun]

I could watch Seyrig cook for days...

Up there in film experiments...

I just can't with that ending. For me, it actually makes the extraordinary quality of the movie become something more rote and commonplace.

Existential Malaise and living ennui don't need, well, THAT ending to cut through to the underlying message.

Just an opinion, though... It's still mandatory viewing for serious cinema aficionados and students.

Seriously, though, where are the deleted scenes of her cooking more breakfast? I could watch them all week...

[MifuneFan]

Originally Posted by jsz1002

All of this on one disc? Hopefully no compression problems.

Sent from my Moto G (4) using Tapatalk

Now that I look at it, it does seem like a lot for a single disc. We're looking at over 5 hours of content by my calculation. A BD can hold that amount, but it's not ideal. I do hope the PQ of the film isn't jeopardized over this.

[PowellPressburger]

People should write to Criterion nicely and beg them to please put the bonus features on a seperate disc.

[malakaheso]

Originally Posted by Lutz

The other auteur here is Seyrig who escalates the movie way beyond anything Akerman could have achieved on her own. I still hold that the ending was completely misjudged. You can tell how badly by the fact that if you remove

[Show spoiler]the scene where she kills her client

the final scene where she sits alone in her apartment would still have the same impact and gravity. It's a completely false note in a good movie designed to add some conflict to the end where in reality people just go on and on.

It makes sense intellectually because it's conforming to a popular left wing idea in the social sciences during the 1960's that structural violence underlies bourgeois existence. In J.D, the structural violence leads to

[Show spoiler]actual violence

. In short, it's the same

[Show spoiler]repression leads to violence

idea that Haneke is obsessed with. It's a very old fashioned idea that for some reason still has many supporters, but at least J.D was made in the mid 70's rather than the early 90's like The Seventh Continent or the late 00's like The White Ribbon, so Akerman has a more valid excuse for exploring it because it still had currency.

[SammyJankis]

Beaver.

Need.

[Poya]

Originally Posted by PowellPressburger

People should write to Criterion nicely and beg them to please put the bonus features on a seperate disc.

Then they'll increase the price up to $10.

[PowellPressburger]

Originally Posted by Poya

Then they'll increase the price up to $10.

Well its too late now anyhow discs are pressed and packaged I'd imagine since reviews are now coming in. I suppose so far looks like the compression was handled as good as can be expected. Just wished they could have maxed out the disc with the film only.

[ravenus]

If the extras are ported from the DVD, then they're either upscales or compressed to the extent where they do not significantly impinge on the main feature's quality. Also, the film is composed of a lot of static shots, not huge bit-rate drains.

[Gacivory]

Jeanne Dielman is down to $16 on Amazon!

[PowellPressburger]

Can't recommend this film enough. I know it isn't for everyone but so grateful Criterion did a BLU upgrade.

I still recall Criterion did a contest around the time the DVD was released for people submitting videos etc of themselves in the kitchen making meals.

[AaronJ]

I bought it, but have yet to watch it. It's one of those in my unwatched pile. I may have to end that tonight.