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Jeanne Dielman, 23 Quai du Commerce, 1080 Bruxelles
Jeanne Dielman, a young widow, lives with her son Sylvain following an immutable order: While the boy is in school she cares for the flat and receives her clients in the afternoon. (imdb)
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Jeanne Dielman, 23 Quai du Commerce, 1080 Bruxelles

1975
Drama
3h 22m
Your probable score
Avg Percentile 74.81% from 768 total ratings

Ratings & Reviews

(768)
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Rated 28 Dec 2014
53
46th
OK, I will tell you a true story about this one.. I was watching it with a friend and the picture was motionless for like 20 minutes, just showing a bed in a dark room with the sound flowing normally and we were like 'wow, is it really THAT slow-paced?'.. Truth was that the screen had stuck because of some DVD failure and we realized it after 20 fuckin minutes and of course truth was that it was an OK film, but definitely not the female Tarkovsky. Epic fail for both of us. LOL
Rated 05 Aug 2015
100
98th
There is oppression in domesticity, and horror in routine, and Chantal Akerman realizes this through rigid, brilliant compositions, making it always feel like the walls are about to close in. In the absence of conflict is when actual tension begins to build. If there is a Hell on Earth, you're most likely to find it in your kitchen. This made me feel very empty, but that's a compliment. It's a masterpiece.
Rated 04 Jul 2013
95
96th
I'm not sure I've ever seen as successful and single-minded a formal exercise as Akerman accomplishes with this film. The sheer repetitiveness of the mundane actions, the static camera, and the claustrophobic framing create a remarkable visual sensibility that shifts so meaningfully mid-film. This approach imbues every action (or non-action) with meaning, ending with a devastating critique on the lifeless, isolated, and auto-pilot existence of the modern world.
Rated 03 Feb 2013
83
93rd
There are meanings (existential, political) and parallels (Fassbinder, Bresson, Warhol and others) to draw, but I'll only say that this is something special and cinema for advanced viewers. Tedium is the heart and soul of this film. If you're not prepared for a challenge, don't attempt it.
Rated 01 Oct 2020
7
57th
Accomplishes the near impossible by being simultaneously fascinating and excruciatingly boring. Akerman's fastidious direction and Seyrig's indelible performance compliment each other beautifully, confining Dielman's character to an increasingly suffocating existence she gradually tries to break free from. While I wouldn't call it the masterpiece it's being hailed as, it provides enough food for thought to keep the viewer invested despite its slow burn and exacting approach.
Rated 29 Jun 2008
97
99th
A truly fantastic work of art. It's frustratingly slow and yet eminently compelling, and the 30 years since it was made only make it all the more interesting. The deliberate pace makes you really reflect on what you're watching and how all those little tasks fill up the day. It's also interesting to notice all the little things that have changed in the intervening time technologically, long distance communication especially. It's also a very telling commentary on the way women are/were viewed.
Rated 31 May 2010
84
90th
I knew what to expect going in, and I wasn't disappointed in the least. Seyrig's performance is wonderfully subtle. The tediousness of life's little rituals is presented in such a sterile way; simply perfect. When Jeanne's routine becomes disrupted is when the movie gains so much depth. The potato peeling scene? I felt more tension during that than most Hollywood thrillers. It's quite a long watch, and boring in parts, but hey... that's the point.
Rated 27 Oct 2007
75
54th
Bold, frustrating, maddening, fascinating, tedious, subtle and genius.
Rated 10 Oct 2009
7
80th
The static imagery and repetitive and meticulous nature lend this a hypnotic quality that is hard to describe, as it is like nothing I have ever seen before. Ultimately satisfying as well but I doubt I will ever revisit it, despite an underlying suspicion that this is a masterpiece.
Rated 25 May 2017
5
93rd
Preceded by an intimidating reputation, this crystalline capsule of time and space is Akerman's apotheosis. Every second of its duration is required to acclimatize and lull the viewer into quotidian rhythms and gestures, and furthermore to disorient when the routine is broken. Despite the director's own attempts to distance herself from a feminist label, there is much to be said of this film's social, political, and psychological implications on the conditions of motherhood and domesticity.
Rated 25 Sep 2016
90
94th
Minor problems relating to and stemming from unnecessary repitition largely subside in favour of unnerving, claustrophobic tension that is the inescapability of boundedness to structures unknown to us, even if we manage to free ourselves from a more obvious, patriarchal order exemplified here.
Rated 24 Oct 2018
90
92nd
An essential and singular observation of motherhood and homemaking that assesses domestic solitude, routine, and identity through a unique visual poetry. It forces the audience to acknowledge the unappreciated maintenance of private life and the never ending cycle of domestic labor that's overwhelmingly female. It's also a paradox of a character story, featuring a protagonist we never get to know except as a sacrificial caregiver for everyone around her, as well as an exploration of boredom.
Rated 16 Sep 2011
85
75th
An obvious metaphore about her situation is shown during the third day, where all that geometrical symmetry is lost.
Rated 18 Apr 2010
5
80th
Definitely important work. I'm just having a hard time discerning how much I was involved in its unique qualities. Delphine Seyrig continues to impress and give a performance few could ever match.
Rated 17 Dec 2013
89
90th
The minimalist content and maximalist running-time could be seen as oversimplified, given that this film is all build-up. But there's so much to be taken in this build-up, so much to gauge within a very static shot that lasts for minutes. The (literal) climax benefits from this assured and patient film-making, revealing something extraordinary out of something ordinary.
Rated 20 Nov 2012
90
93rd
Wow. There are so many little details that there is always something to look at and observe and think about. This is a 3 hour slow build film of the mundane. Sit through it and watch it.
Rated 26 Jul 2014
78
89th
Like The Seventh Continent, it uses film form to create a specifically restricted mode of spectatorship to emphasise the routine drudgery of everyday life to reveal the 'structural violence' underlying a seemingly mundane facade; the violence then moves from the structural to the physical. The question for the viewer to decide is whether it's ultimately worth sitting through 3+ hours of formalism to gain this 'insight' which was more revelatory in the 70's than it is now. Proceed with caution.
Rated 01 Jun 2020
80
96th
Jeanne Dielman's sterile, ritualistic, clockwork existence is conveyed in a visual style as controlled as it's heroine. The geometrical compositions, boxlike shapes and compulsively repeated visual motifs create an imprisoning, regimented mise en scene reflecting her alienated, routinized life. The sense of suffocation and confinement is overwhelming. At 3 hours and 21 minutes, this tense study in dehumanization requires and rewards patience.
Rated 04 Jul 2021
88
88th
On a critical level, it’s a masterpiece - a fascinating look at the work the patriarchy takes for granted, at how much time that work actually takes up, and a subtler-than-subtle unraveling. On a personal level, it’s frequently more interesting than you would expect, but never fully hypnotic for me, and tedium did occasionally creep in. But that doesn’t mean it doesn’t deserve every accolade and piece of praise it’s received.
Rated 13 Aug 2014
90
82nd
Probably the movie most responsible for my enjoying being bored by movies. Watching someone get depressed in real time is surprisingly gripping.
Rated 20 Jan 2009
50
34th
Thanks... but no thanks.
Rated 10 Mar 2012
85
77th
10 Mart 2011, filmmor & Jeanne Dielman'in etkisi yonetmenin sabirla, sade kamera acilari ile ve mek(an)lari tanita tanita kurdugu kadin dunyasinda gizli. Ancak filmin sonu, filmin genel yapisina yakismamis duruyor. Boylesi kurulmus, ilerleyen filmde isyan bu kadar bagirmamaliydi.
Rated 07 Apr 2019
92
98th
Masterpiece and surprise.
Rated 09 Jun 2014
88
95th
In a class all it's own. I thought I wouldn't be able to enjoy this going in, merely appreciate it. But I was wrong. It's mesmerizing, tense, and suspenseful. As well as maddening.
Rated 01 Aug 2009
88
93rd
The Feminine/Feminist version of Straw Dogs.
Rated 13 Mar 2023
79
61st
It works. But I prefer Mad Max Fury Road.
Rated 28 Aug 2012
100
97th
A brilliant film that never fails to be engrossing in its depiction of the mundane. The overarching feel is one of great tragedy and it hits hard because the film is so sadly realistic.
Rated 18 Mar 2019
90
96th
Pure human cinema. Intense, thought-provoking messaging told through unsettlingly familiar environments. Delphine Seyrig gives one of the greatest performances ever.
Rated 31 Jan 2024
86
55th
Very talented people sought to make a boring movie, and they succeeded. I did appreciate how the unrelenting tedium of the film allowed minor details of editing, performance and mise en scene to take on intensity and significance. But not a movie I think I will revisit in a very long time.
Rated 15 Mar 2023
77
53rd
If nothing else, a one-of-a-kind in the gruelling day-in-the-life genre: if not literally playing out in "real time", the cumulative weight of the 3½ hours certainly leaves you with that impression, and Seyrig's performance is one for the ages, in being on-camera for more or less the whole time and never winking to the audience. But is the power and impact of the finale heightened by the weight of the running time? Interesting, but not entirely successful - (gulp) a second viewing may help!
Rated 18 Dec 2022
70
61st
It rather feels like an exercise in form instead of a proper cinematic work. Nevertheless, if that's true, it's certainly a successful exercise that truly realizes film's potential as "sculpture in time". Still, I do think that this piece is more fit for a museum exhibition than any cinema, art-house or otherwise, and while I do recognize and respect this film's vision, I can't really say that I've personally taken anything away from the experience of having watched it.
Rated 01 Mar 2008
93
88th
# 142
Rated 12 Jun 2016
30
99th
Astonishing, revelatory, colossal, whatever superlatives you care to put here. Notes: -Not as repetitive as its reputation suggests, as Akerman only wants to show when an iteration is different and only implies why it is different. -The camera is situated at architectural cardinal points to box Jeanne in, where it's either parallel to or directly facing a wall, until she lashes out in a bid to escape this zoo. -The one prop I'd have from the film: the sofa-bed, total no-brainer for me.
Rated 07 Dec 2022
90
94th
Time and patience are required, but well rewarded.
Rated 29 Nov 2014
55
8th
Booooooooorrrrinng...
Rated 28 May 2023
75
85th
The unraveling of the mundane is very well done here and the whole movie is framed and set up to lull you into the drudgery of the monotonous routine only to twist and subvert things on the viewer. The thing for me is that I found it much too long but you almost need that to achieve the effect that the director wanted. This might get a higher rating on a rewatch but I don't know if that'll happen anytime in the near future.
Rated 29 Apr 2016
73
28th
In the category of "long slow films where very little happens", Jeanne Dielman stands out for its unwavering commitment to the central tenets of longness, slowness, and very-little-happeningness. A portrait of everyday, mundane, mid-life ennui, it can be considered a classic of its genre. Whether that is ok, is something I have mixed feelings about. At times it treads a fine line between artistic integrity and extracting the urine. The shock ending is a minor feature and won't change my view.
Rated 19 Dec 2008
93
86th
141
Rated 10 Dec 2022
65
71st
Across a three-day period, a widow takes care of her son and attends to all kinds of “female duties”, but, very gradually, and despite the static camera, things start to fall apart. Perhaps I’m wrong, but I have the impression that responses to this film largely see it as being about the tedium and meaninglessness of repetitious domestic drudgery under the tyranny of oppressive “patriarchy”. But I’m not sure that this is a fair characterisation of the movie or the filmmaker’s intent.
Rated 21 Mar 2023
1
3rd
This is the reason why i don't believe film critics.
Rated 08 Nov 2023
8
82nd
made me want to polish the silverware at home and cook stew
Rated 10 Sep 2016
72
58th
i couldn't achieve to watch the movie till end at one sitting.. i like it but regardless, 3.5 hours is too long to me even for these kinds of films trying to emphasize the routine.
Rated 28 Mar 2012
100
95th
Central Region arti Bresson - sesler, ritm, form... her sey mukemmel
Rated 28 Aug 2022
60
35th
An environmentalist classic: Never will you see anyone so fastidious about turning out lights when she leaves a room. The claustrophobia and tedium are real but they linger too long, such that I was wondering how many times Belgian mail services run in a single day, and why she never picked up those shoes.
Rated 02 Dec 2022
75
75th
if y'all ever dropped a fork or something on the kitchen floor while you were tired, you'd feel the same damn way too.
Rated 06 Mar 2017
95
97th
a map so detailed that it covers the very things it was designed to represent "we now use the country itself, as its own map, and I assure you it does nearly as well." (analogy where this film is the map)
Rated 24 Jan 2014
6
83rd
life as an excruciatingly tedious routine, that only gets worse when that routine breaks down in even the most subtle of ways. criterion's description of this as an existentialist encapsulation of space and time is apt. however, and despite this being a near perfect example of its form, i'm still unconvinced by the style of film-making that descends below reality into a minimalistic world of static cameras, little dialogue and no music. it's just not a very interesting way to making a movie.
Rated 06 Jan 2021
55
39th
Extremely well-made, but the ending is pretty ridiculous, and every single minute of the runtime of more than three hours moves at a sadistically glacial pace. I second-screened the hell out of this one.
Rated 02 Mar 2017
84
91st
The monotonous, boring and insignificant daily life of Jeanne Dielman is summarized in three days during which she goes shopping, cooks food and is visited by her son as well as some middle-aged men who pay for her time. Her meaningless household routines, general mannerisms and joyless facial expressions mirror the empty and lonely reality of her existence. Minimalism in camera movement and the reduced visual profile summarize Jeanne's character, and provide the stylistic edge for the film.
Rated 07 Apr 2024
8
92nd
Incredibly compellingly boring.
Rated 25 Oct 2018
99
98th
spellbinding from beginning to end
Rated 07 Jun 2021
90
91st
When I first saw this at 17 I was furious at how slow the first 20 minutes were. Now at 26 and having finished it, I'm in awe of it.
Rated 03 Apr 2024
86
88th
It was when she was washing the dishes but you couldn't see the dishes being washed that I questioned my existence.
Rated 15 Jan 2022
64
16th
I spent a lot of the movie being purely annoyed with this lady. She's approximately 60 and still folds her jammies for her son. Also, I don't think that guy deserved the scissors to the neck, he did her a favour didn't he?
Rated 04 Sep 2023
100
96th
I really admire Akerman as a director and am glad I finally caught up with this film. Her earliest influences were structuralist filmmakers and her earliest work is very much like that ... more about technique than content. Here she translates this type of avant-garde style to a film with serious, real world concerns. I thought it was brilliant.
Rated 13 Jan 2010
92
84th
152
Rated 14 May 2022
60
52nd
toz bezi daha güzel
Rated 13 Mar 2020
70
64th
Boringness is at the same time it's greatest weakness as it is it's most essential narrative tool.
Rated 05 Nov 2018
5
22nd
Ideology beating movies with a thick stick, part 428, girl-power! collectif special experiment. It's so very important, and it really makes you think. Because there's nothing else you can do while it's on. It also dares to make monotony monotone -or was the editor just lazy? Take it or leave it boys -and girls.
Rated 12 Jun 2022
12
1st
Sorry, but no. This is a movie with an interesting point and some interesting commentary about a subject not often covered done in the most boring, overly indulgent way possible. Some will say that the boring is the point. I get that, but I think boring the viewer to death is a cardinal sin when making a movie. It would have probably worn out its welcome at 90 minutes, yet (incredibly) runs for 200+. I respect the dedication to the vision, but the vision is just terribly boring to me.
Rated 30 Nov 2011
92
84th
#157
Rated 13 Apr 2018
79
79th
If we were somehow measuring movie tempo like we do music with BPM then this might objectively be the slowest non-experimental movie ever made. But it needs to be to get its' points across and through the occassional boredom creeps an extraordinary character study. I doubt I'd want to revisit it any time soon though.
Rated 19 Oct 2015
81
97th
Post-cinema.
Rated 23 Apr 2021
5
81st
I'm glad that it ended with something, the fastidiousness was starting to really get under my skin and creep me out a little bit.

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