Film Details

As a warm-up for filmmaker Chantal Akerman’s personal appearance on Oct. 19, we present her seminal 1975 film that “changed the face of contemporary European cinema” (J. Hoberman). Rarely screened theatrically due to its extreme length, this groundbreaking masterpiece focuses on a middle-aged Belgian woman (Delphine Seyrig), living in a modest, tidy apartment, who matter-of-factly tackles her daily chores: cooking, cleaning, shopping—and receiving one anonymous man a day who pays for sex. Jeanne’s quotidian existence progresses like clockwork, and she remains placid, unruffled, and efficient—until a break in routine triggers a descent into disorder, and worse.