The follow-up to Jeanne Dielman is less enigmatic but more emotionally resonant. Clement's performance is not as rich and subtle as Seyrig's, but it doesn't need to be. Akerman tells much of Anna's story through her mise-en-scene, as she is often seen behind some sort of barrier to the outside world. She's a person torn between a desire to make human connections and a self-defeating inability to do so. The pacing can sometimes try your patience, but it's quite within the limits of tolerability.