Jeanne Dielman, 23 Quai du Commerce, 1080 Bruxelles
May 13, 2010
Jeanne Dielman is a mystifying experience. We sit transfixed on the mundane actions of this single mother as she does her mundane housework with surgical precision. These tasks are interrupted briefly by a visitor with whom she enters the bedroom with and later exits and receives money for services rendered. With subtle body language we can infer that she is uncomfortable with the awkward social interaction that takes place afterwards as her lover sets up an appointment with her for the following Tuesday. We wonder if the sexual interlude that we assume went on behind that closed door was as joyless and meticulous as the ritual cleansing that goes on afterwards.
We spend the next three hours following this woman carry out her day to day life. We are never allowed to get too close to this woman as the shots are framed at a distance. We sense her discomfort with social interaction as a young mother lingers at the door too long interfering with her daily lunch ritual. We wonder why it takes three separate containers to make the coffee every single morning. The whirring of the coffee grinder and the bubbling potatoes on the stove offer the soundtrack for her joyless existence. Everything activity is planned so precisely that an accident with potatoes yields unnerving levels of tension.
I’ve seen terms tossed around describing the themes of this film such as feminism, alienation, and the erosion of the human soul. These are all apt descriptors but those alone shouldn’t be enough to warrant the indescribable power of this film. We have seen other films that touch those themes and they don’t clock in at three and a half hours, so what is the quality that this film possesses that held us captive for the entire run-time? We aren’t told much of anything but what we are shown is enough to extrapolate the conclusion as tiny cracks appear in the porcelain surface.
